Summary

In this episode, we get real about the messy mix of running, life stress, and whatever’s going on in our heads, especially when training for something as daunting as an ultra. After a rough half marathon that felt like one long mental battle, our host talks about how emotional overload can totally derail a race. There’s also an unexpected cameo from Boz Scaggs’ “Lido Shuffle,” which ended up looping through the run and becoming this weird little window into their mood and mindset. We chat about what our go-to running songs say about us, how playlists evolve with our training, and why music can be such a lifeline on the hard days. And of course, we want to hear from you: what tracks keep you moving on those long runs?

Chapters

• 00:09 - Introduction to My Running Journey
• 00:45 - Navigating Life's Challenges: The Sandwich Generation
• 03:28 - The Challenge of the Process
• 06:15 - The Intersection of Music and Running
• 07:56 - Exploring Music and Podcasts

Links

• My Apple Music running mix
• countryfriedrock.com podcast from 2009-2020 with archives slowly returning
• divebarmusicclub.com new podcast launching 2026 where I chat with some of my music friends about what we're listening to right now
• Sleep with Rock Stars, the Gen X Sleep Podcast
• Support this Podcast

Recommended If You Like

running playlist, ultra running, half marathon experience, running challenges, training for ultra marathons, running motivation, music for running, running headspace, overcoming race challenges, running in your 50s, running gear, running podcasts, coping with running stress, race day preparation, running tips for older athletes, music and running performance, mental aspect of running, running community, running reflections, personal running journey

Transcript

So now I'm kind of wondering if my running playlist is my subconscious. Why else would I have Boz Skaggs Lido Shuffle on there? Hey, y', all, thanks for finding Mama Runs an Ultra.

I'm a runner on the downhill side of my 50s who decided to run my very first ultra. And this podcast is helping me think out loud. How did I get here?

So I just got some horrendous official photos back from a late fall half marathon that I did. I'm not going to name it. It was a fantastic half marathon. I just had one horrific days every so often. Well, let me take that back.

I'm not sure I've ever actually had a race that went as badly as this did for no identifiable reason other than my training block was full of a lot of life stress. I don't know if any of y' all are in this whole sandwich generation situation of you still have kids and you're taking care of parents and it sucks.

Nobody told nobody. Nobody prepared me for this. My parents did not deal with this with their parents.

And I don't want to get into the drama of it all, but just to say I was not emotionally prepared for this. Never mind all the other details. I hate it. And that's me being nice about all of this.

Anyway, I think that's really what impacted this particular training cycle on this half marathon that I did. Because the race itself was fantastic. Drivable distance, well located race hotel, good logistics for the event itself, perfect weather for running.

It just didn't go well. I felt terrible and I couldn't salvage the day. I finished, nothing was broken, gave myself two hours to be mopey about it, and then I moved on.

You can tell I totally moved on, right? I got these pictures in the my email the other day and I was like, oh, those pictures reflect exactly how terrible I felt that day.

It was kind of hilarious. They are. If you were going to make like an Instagram of terrible race photos, it would just be filled with these photos.

Every single thing about it just looked awful. And the funniest part was I'm not sure I picked my feet up off the ground the entire time. I'm not sure how I ran at all. It looked ridiculous.

Just like not even running. It was just shuffle, horrendous, terrible shuffle. And everything felt terrible. Can I say terrible one more time? Why not?

So I ended up somehow like with my phone sweaty in my pocket or something and it got stuck on repeat on the Boz Scaggs song Lido Shuffle, which is on my running playlist, but not over and over and over again. And I was in such a bad headspace that day. It never occurred to me to say, hey, Siri, skip this song. And I like that song.

But it's funny, while my legs were, like, barely doing their job and just shuffling along, literally, like, every single step was a down step, you know, those photos. Oh, my gosh. Couldn't. Could not possibly be less inspiring. Anyway, the lyrics of that song are actually.

They sort of helped me get through it all for some reason, until it finally dawned on me to pull my phone out of my pocket and fast forward with my finger. Like I said, I was just not in it that day. So it's sort of a song about. I mean, this is my interpretation.

Every song has meaning to whoever the listener is, but it's really about, like, rolling your last gamble at a life choice repeatedly. And like, every next time is gonna be the last time. And it never quite panning out.

Even when the third time around, the people in your life are like, yeah, this is it. And you're like, one more, just one more, just one more.

And with the whole preparing for and getting ready to train for this very first ultra, I'm a little bit being clear to myself that I'm not in the headspace of just one more, because that's not where this is coming from. It's more the challenge of the process. I don't do a ton of races every year, so it's not.

I have a friend who does like a marathon every month and, you know, knock yourself out, but that's not something that I would be able to physically do or recover from appropriately. And, you know, as I joke, and I've said this one on this podcast before, but this is one of my favorite lines. I say it all the time in real life.

Nike is not coming to reduce my contract if I do not perform on this day. But, you know, if you want to talk about funding this venture, by all means, hit me up.

Because, you know, late 50s women who've never run an ultra are surely the top market for them. Although, have you all seen. I hate to even go down this road. Did y' all see the holey hole filled? What would you call it? Like, mesh?

I don't even know what it was. Some sort of open Swiss cheese mesh something or other shirt that Kipchoge was wearing in that last big marathon. It was pretty cool.

I kind of thought they were going to have it in orange for some reason, but turns out it's white. Anyway, I think it's a cooling shirt with some sort of cooling technology.

I think that is the coolest thing I've ever seen, and I am all about trying something ridiculous like that tangent. Not even sure where I was going with this. No surprise, but I do have a running playlist. It's out there on Apple Music if you want to see it.

Super simple to find. It's called Running Mix. Yeah, I know.

Real, real, real original under the name of one of my early podcasts from 2009, Country Fried Rock, which has some resurrected archives out there. Y' all can find it. Anyway, that's the name I use on Apple Music.

And that mix generally skews heavily to disco because when I am not in a good headspace, you know, turn the beat around, it'll really get you going.

So it's kind of funny that for whatever reason, on that one horrible day, it was just Lido shuffle over and over and over again until I finally fast forwarded to my, like, comfort music, which is the Clash album London Calling. So, yeah, I know I generally don't train with music, but I do like to have one earbud in during a race for those rough moments.

And I've only had one other race where I had any sort of rough moment, and that's because I was really pushing on that particular day. And it helped me stop obsessing about the fact that I was pushing harder than I thought I was capable of doing.

And I was really glad to have it on this day where everything was not coming together the way I hoped for, because it was a pretty good distraction, even the hilarity of being stuck on a Boss Gag song. But I definitely on that day realized there were some oldies in my playlist that I just couldn't bear when things were not going well.

They were not helping me get to the next good headspace. And I'm sorry, Morrissey and the Smiths, y', all are absolutely 86'd out of this running playlist.

I was in that headspace where I was like, yeah, cancel your concert one more time. Anyway, typically I'm listening to Ultra Running Trail podcasts when I'm on my long runs. One of your in one of your off.

And that's what I was saying in one of the earlier episodes, that that's kind of where I've been in this contemplative phase about running an Ultra for a really long time.

So, I mean, if you could know what to do by listening to 11d zillion podcasts about a subject I am definitely your armchair expert, but I'm not egotistical enough to think that that actually prepares me to do anything. But I am curious, for those of you who do run Ultras, do you listen to anything on them? Do you? Is it podcasts? If so, like, what subject?

If it's music, is it like, upbeat music? Is it mellow music? What? You know, it doesn't matter if we don't have the same kind of taste. I'm just curious.

I actually have super, super broad music taste. I worked in the music business for 25 years, and I could go on about that subject. I do go on about that subject.

I have multiple podcasts related to it.

I have one that we're just getting ready to launch called Dive Bar Music Club, which is me and some of my friends hanging out, talking about the music we're listening to right now. So, like, music is part of me. I wake up with a song in my head every single day, and that is something I can't control.

And sometimes I'm like, why is this one in my head? Where did this come from? Ah, it's a mystery. I have never figured that one out.

So I would love to know what y' all like to listen to, if anything, when you're on your podcast. And, like, specific names. Like, if it's a podcast, I want to know the specific name of the podcast you listen to.

But if it's music, especially if it's music I don't typically listen to, I would love to know, like, what album or what song or however you find it. I know that folks who are younger than Gen X generally don't listen to albums, so that's okay.

Tell me what you like, because it's always good to branch out.

That's really what I'm doing here with my goofy little shuffle, moving along and getting my brain ready for the physical training that's on the way for this very first Ultra. I'm. I'm getting that, like, excited stage now. Anyway, thanks so much for tuning in and running along with us.

Y' all can leave comments and stuff more easily, like on the YouTube or Spotify. I don't use Spotify personally, so it'll send me an alert if y' all write something there. But YouTube's might be a better way to interact with.

I hate having to play the whole like, like, share, subscribe game, but that is so much part of what the algorithms make us do these days. So please do tap the follow button. All that sort of good stuff in your favorite podcast app.

Let a friend know if you have listened to this and enjoyed it. If you hated it, that's okay. Just be quiet and move on. Totally cool. We don't have to be friends. I wish I'd gotten there earlier.

Anyway, thanks for being here with me. As I figure out what the hell I'm thinking as Momma runs an Ultra.

Mentioned in this episode:

Sleep with Rock Stars

Sleep with Rock Stars, the Gen X sleep podcast. You deserve a good night's sleep...or whatever.

So now I'm kind of wondering if my running playlist is my subconscious.

Why else would I have Boz Skaggs Lido Shuffle on there?

Hey, y', all, thanks for finding Mama Runs an Ultra.

I'm a runner on the downhill side of my 50s who decided to run my very first ultra.

And this podcast is helping me think out loud.

How did I get here?

So I just got some horrendous official photos back from a late fall half marathon that I did.

I'm not going to name it.

It was a fantastic half marathon.

I just had one horrific days every so often.

Well, let me take that back.

I'm not sure I've ever actually had a race that went as badly as this did for no identifiable reason other than my training block was full of a lot of life stress.

I don't know if any of y' all are in this whole sandwich generation situation of you still have kids and you're taking care of parents and it sucks.

Nobody told nobody.

Nobody prepared me for this.

My parents did not deal with this with their parents.

And I don't want to get into the drama of it all, but just to say I was not emotionally prepared for this.

Never mind all the other details.

I hate it.

And that's me being nice about all of this.

Anyway, I think that's really what impacted this particular training cycle on this half marathon that I did.

Because the race itself was fantastic.

Drivable distance, well located race hotel, good logistics for the event itself, perfect weather for running.

It just didn't go well.

I felt terrible and I couldn't salvage the day.

I finished, nothing was broken, gave myself two hours to be mopey about it, and then I moved on.

You can tell I totally moved on, right?

I got these pictures in the my email the other day and I was like, oh, those pictures reflect exactly how terrible I felt that day.

It was kind of hilarious.

They are.

If you were going to make like an Instagram of terrible race photos, it would just be filled with these photos.

Every single thing about it just looked awful.

And the funniest part was I'm not sure I picked my feet up off the ground the entire time.

I'm not sure how I ran at all.

It looked ridiculous.

Just like not even running.

It was just shuffle, horrendous, terrible shuffle.

And everything felt terrible.

Can I say terrible one more time?

Why not?

So I ended up somehow like with my phone sweaty in my pocket or something and it got stuck on repeat on the Bozkag song Lido Shuffle, which is on my running playlist, but not over and over and over again.

And I was in such a bad headspace that day.

It never occurred to me to say, hey, Siri, skip this song.

And I like that song.

But it's funny, while my legs were, like, barely doing their job and just shuffling along, literally, like, every single step was a down step, you know, those photos.

Oh, my gosh.

Couldn't.

Could not possibly be less inspiring.

Anyway, the lyrics of that song are actually.

They sort of helped me get through it all for some reason, until it finally dawned on me to pull my phone out of my pocket and fast forward with my finger.

Like I said, I was just not in it that day.

So it's sort of a song about.

I mean, this is my interpretation.

Every song has meaning to whoever the listener is, but it's really about, like, rolling your last gamble at a life choice repeatedly.

And like, every next time is gonna be the last time.

And it never quite panning out.

Even when the third time around, the people in your life are like, yeah, this is it.

And you're like, one more, just one more, just one more.

And with the whole preparing for and getting ready to train for this very first ultra, I'm a little bit being clear to myself that I'm not in the headspace of just one more, because that's not where this is coming from.

It's more the challenge of the process.

I don't do a ton of races every year, so it's not.

I have a friend who does like a marathon every month and, you know, knock yourself out, but that's not something that I would be able to physically do or recover from appropriately.

And, you know, as I joke, and I've said this one on this podcast before, but this is one of my favorite lines.

I say it all the time in real life.

Nike is not coming to reduce my contract if I do not perform on this day.

But, you know, if you want to talk about funding this venture, by all means, hit me up.

Because, you know, late 50s women who've never run an ultra are surely the top market for them.

Although, have you all seen.

I hate to even go down this road.

Did y' all see the holey hole filled?

What would you call it?

Like, mesh?

I don't even know what it was.

Some sort of open Swiss cheese mesh something or other shirt that Kipchoge was wearing in that last big marathon.

It was pretty cool.

I kind of thought they were going to have it in orange for some reason, but turns out it's white.

Anyway, I think it's a cooling shirt with some sort of cooling technology.

I think that is the coolest thing I've ever seen, and I am all about trying something ridiculous like that tangent.

Not even sure where I was going with this.

No surprise, but I do have a running playlist.

It's out there on Apple Music if you want to see it.

Super simple to find.

It's called Running Mix.

Yeah, I know.

Y' all can find it.

Anyway, that's the name I use on Apple Music.

And that mix generally skews heavily to disco because when I am not in a good headspace, you know, turn the beat around, it'll really get you going.

So it's kind of funny that for whatever reason, on that one horrible day, it was just Lido shuffle over and over and over again until I finally fast forwarded to my, like, comfort music, which is the Clash album London Calling.

So, yeah, I know I generally don't train with music, but I do like to have one earbud in during a race for those rough moments.

And I've only had one other race where I had any sort of rough moment, and that's because I was really pushing on that particular day.

And it helped me stop obsessing about the fact that I was pushing harder than I thought I was capable of doing.

And I was really glad to have it on this day where everything was not coming together the way I hoped for, because it was a pretty good distraction, even the hilarity of being stuck on a Boss Gag song.

But I definitely on that day realized there were some oldies in my playlist that I just couldn't bear when things were not going well.

They were not helping me get to the next good headspace.

And I'm sorry, Morrissey and the Smiths, y', all are absolutely 86'd out of this running playlist.

I was in that headspace where I was like, yeah, cancel your concert one more time.

Anyway, typically I'm listening to Ultra Running Trail podcasts when I'm on my long runs.

One of your in one of your off.

And that's what I was saying in one of the earlier episodes, that that's kind of where I've been in this contemplative phase about running an Ultra for a really long time.

So, I mean, if you could know what to do by listening to 11d zillion podcasts about a subject I am definitely your armchair expert, but I'm not egotistical enough to think that that actually prepares me to do anything.

But I am curious, for those of you who do run Ultras, do you listen to anything on them?

Do you?

Is it podcasts?

If so, like, what subject?

If it's music, is it like, upbeat music?

Is it mellow music?

What?

You know, it doesn't matter if we don't have the same kind of taste.

I'm just curious.

I actually have super, super broad music taste.

I worked in the music business for 25 years, and I could go on about that subject.

I do go on about that subject.

I have multiple podcasts related to it.

I have one that we're just getting ready to launch called Dive Bar Music Club, which is me and some of my friends hanging out, talking about the music we're listening to right now.

So, like, music is part of me.

I wake up with a song in my head every single day, and that is something I can't control.

And sometimes I'm like, why is this one in my head?

Where did this come from?

Ah, it's a mystery.

I have never figured that one out.

So I would love to know what y' all like to listen to, if anything, when you're on your podcast.

And, like, specific names.

Like, if it's a podcast, I want to know the specific name of the podcast you listen to.

But if it's music, especially if it's music I don't typically listen to, I would love to know, like, what album or what song or however you find it.

I know that folks who are younger than Gen X generally don't listen to albums, so that's okay.

Tell me what you like, because it's always good to branch out.

That's really what I'm doing here with my goofy little shuffle, moving along and getting my brain ready for the physical training that's on the way for this very first Ultra.

I'm.

I'm getting that, like, excited stage now.

Anyway, thanks so much for tuning in and running along with us.

Y' all can leave comments and stuff more easily, like on the YouTube or Spotify.

I don't use Spotify personally, so it'll send me an alert if y' all write something there.

But YouTube's might be a better way to interact with.

I hate having to play the whole like, like, share, subscribe game, but that is so much part of what the algorithms make us do these days.

So please do tap the follow button.

All that sort of good stuff in your favorite podcast app.

Let a friend know if you have listened to this and enjoyed it.

If you hated it, that's okay.

Just be quiet and move on.

Totally cool.

We don't have to be friends.

I wish I'd gotten there earlier.

Anyway, thanks for being here with me.

As I figure out what the hell I'm thinking as Mama runs an Ultra.