House Music as Running Motivation

'I ran. I ran until my muscles burned and my veins pumped battery acid. Then I ran some more. '

-Narrator, Fight Club, by Chuck Palahniuk.

That's exactly what I've done this week: an endurance project involving running on the treadmill. I also ran some more after said sensations took hold, but instead of searching down a series of bombs that my alter-ego planted- a'la Fight Club- I just stayed on the treadmill. To motivate me, I used good house music courtesy of PC Radio, a Google Playstore app from Russia offering a range of different music styles through hundreds of stations.

On the 4^th February I went to the gym and tuned into House DI, the house music stream from web radio providers Digitally Imported. I managed 60 minutes, basically because the running machines are programmed to stop after that time. Presumably this is to encourage members to let others onto the treadmills. My phone's battery was still above 65%; I was tired but I felt like I had something left in me. I decided to give it another shot later.

On the 9^th I returned to the gym and tuned into Deep Mix Moscow, house music direct from the Russian Capital. I started running. After 40 minutes the broadcast stream cut off. After a Russian message, a recorded voice said “there is no stream of broadcast from this station.” The accent sounded like Officer Crabtree from Allo Allo. 

I switched to Deep Nu-Disco, again from the Digitally Imported team. By the time the programmed 60 minutes were up, I was down to 63% battery. I took a quick break- 10 minutes or so, as I was feeling strong- then got back to running. The battery was at 51% and, like my body, was starting to run out of power. I ran for another 60 agonising minutes, bringing the battery down to 17%.

I moved to sit-ups. After 5 or so minutes, the battery ran out.

Unsurprisingly, I then sat down for a few hours. My six-pack hasn't miraculously reappeared after 4 years of hiding, but a chicken fajita put energy back into me (except maybe to the legs. They weren't doing a thing. I didn't feel too bad the next day though.) I couldn't have ran anywhere near the distance I did without good house music. And if that isn't your thing, PC Radio will have your niche.