In switching to the iPhone 5s from an Android phone, I’ve come across some really nice surprises. When I purchased my iPhone 5s, I needed to get music on the phone ASAP. I had missed out on two consecutive potential running days and was not happy about missing runs due to technical difficulties. As I’ve said multiple times, I’m not one of those runners who can get out and run without music in my ears. I’ve tried it and it doesn’t work for me (unless I’m running with a friend or my wife and we can spend the miles talking). Of course, the rush to get music on my phone meant that my running playlist was going to change. I could have kept the entire playlist. However, because I was rushed, I just didn’t take the time to make sure everything matched up. In that rush, however, I found some songs that I haven’t listened to in a long time that have shown themselves to be awesome new additions to my playlist.

First up, is (There’s Gotta Be) More to Life by Stacie Orrico. Back when I was at Belmont University, I was an intern in the Contemporary Christian Music industry. Not only that, but it was at a time where the popularity of this music reached its peak. Unlike most of the music world, the Christian industry thrived initially after Napster and Kazaa came onto the scene (before iTunes). Stacie Orrico was one of the teen singers who came out in this time. While I’m not sure what happened to derail her music recording career, this song was the second single released on her sophomore album, Stacie Orrico, and I loved it right from the very first time I heard it. What’s a shame is that I couldn’t find the music video that came out with this song because I thought, back then anyways, that the video was kind of cool. I love the message of the song and the tempo grooves along just quick enough to keep my momentum going forward while running. Finding this song again has proven to be a winner in my running playlist. I’ve moved it up to make sure it plays in my first three miles and get to hear it at least 3 times a week. That’s how much I love running with this song. The only downside is that the verse and chorus only last just over 30 seconds. Since I don’t run with a Gym Boss timer or anything telling me to stop and start my intervals, I usually try to listen to a verse and chorus of a song before looking down at my watch to see if it’s time to switch from a run to a walk on my run intervals. I was bummed the first time I listened to this song on a training run because the verse/chorus combo didn’t last long enough. However, since realizing this, it hasn’t been an issue.

This is How it Feels to be Free by the Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir has become my new warm up song. As a runner who dreams of being faster and able to run farther, this song really connects with me. I have run with this song in the past. It’s not always the best song to run with because the tempo feels slow at times. On Saturday, I did run with this song because I did my warm up without music. So, this is the first song on the list and it worked out okay for me. With words like “This is how it feels to be free” being sung over and over, how could you not love this song while running? The first time I used this song to run with, it totally took me out of what I was thinking about before going out. That day, I had to get out and run because I had already missed two days. So, even though I wasn’t quite in a good place to start a training run, I went out anyways. This song completely took me away from that. Even after the song was over, and while other tunes were playing, I kept thinking…This is how if feels to be free!

I know that these two songs are more on the faith side of my postings. I hope that’s okay with you who don’t share that faith. However, these two songs have been so awesome for me to discover this past week that I wanted to share. As I seek those goals of running farther and faster, these two songs have helped me.