A year of running through 20 years of music
During the holidays I copied my entire CD collection spanning the last 20 years to my MP3 player that I use when running. I plan to run my way through all the CD’s this year. Nothing beckons memories and feelings more than music from the past, and it helps me […]
As I continue my running journey through the last 20 years of my CD collection, today’s selection is a much more personal one. It is Elton John’s Made In England from 1995, specifically the last track called “Blessed”. I used to sing this song to my child while waiting for […]
For today’s running CD, I needed something with a little vigor for a rainy Winter’s Monday. This is from a little-known obscure group called Travis: The Invisible Band, and a song called “Sing” from 2001. I first heard this song from the outdoor speakers of the ski slopes in Steamboat Springs, […]
I completed my running journey this week by listening to One EskimO’s Shrangri La from 2009. If you like to dream, think, and generally wander while running, then this is the album for you. I kept on running just so I could listen to it again! And still I have no idea […]
Over the last week there has been crazy weather, and also for me, a really bad cold that has put a stall in my running journey. I started out last week running with George Strait’s Troubadour album from 2008. It was a nice change from the alternative rock funk that I must have […]
This one seemed fitting to listen to for a rainy Monday jog: Norah Jones, Come Away with Me, 2008 (song: Shoot the Moon). It is February, in the dead middle of winter, and I am anxiously awaiting for some sign of spring to appear. It is easy to let things pile up […]
I rounded out this week of cold, winter running by listening to Bruce Springsteen’s, Devils & Dust album from 2005. He is one our great American storytellers. For all you millennials out there, if you want a glimpse of what life was like right before the age of internet and cell phones, before mass terrorism […]
I started off the week running and listening to two of Jewel’s albums, Goodbye Alice in Wonderland (2006) and Perfectly Clear (2008). They were cute, kind of like overly sweet syrup that ruins your pancakes. A beautiful voice and a beautiful person, but it did not keep me running. I […]
Beautiful Monday running, while listening to a beautiful album by James Blunt, Back to Bedlam from 2004. I was around 38 back then. If I had to choose an age I wanted to be again, it would be 38, and it’s no coincidence that this is such a beautiful album from that time too. […]
I’ve had Coldplay running through my head for days now – not the cold type, but the musical group. I was listening to their album during one of my runs last week – A Rush of Blood to the Head, from 2002. Their rhythm is precise and methodical. It has a familiar, monotonic beating of […]
It’s all just noise anyway. That’s what I’m thinking while listening to Matchbox Twenty’s More Than You Think You Are album (2002) while running today. The discordant harmony bounces around in my head, searching for a melody, and it reminds me of just how much extra noise has cluttered my mind lately. There’s […]
For this one hour, I leave behind my daily tasks and break away for a lunchtime run. For one precious hour, I forget about the morning rush and all the undone work I’ve left back at my desk. I don’t think about the afternoon’s conference calls and meetings, or even the things I […]
The tragic and surprising death of a long-time colleague has prompted me to write this story. It encapsulates a thought that has been on my mind for a while, and now it is time to form it into words. I hope I do it justice. Live with the finish line in […]
It had been a cold winter’s day when I walked into the church that Sunday morning, wearing a long black coat that draped down to the top of my black boots, and probably wearing a little bit of an attitude too. I was hoping to go unnoticed as I walked into the back of the church, […]
Today is a serenely sad day, so I chose some earlier Elton John music to run with, which is reminiscent of my earlier days in Atlanta in the late 80’s/early 90’s. My 10-year running buddy at work will probably be laid off in the next couple of weeks, and I will lose […]
Half a year has already passed by. Do you ever think back to January around this time of year and wonder at how much has changed or transpired in just half a year? I do, and I am always amazed at the things I discover that I didn’t know then but I know now. I began my […]
It’s been awhile, I think to myself as I step out to run today, alone. Scrolling through my song lists to see where I left off in my running journey, I come to Third Day’s Offerings album. Well, I guess it’s just me and God today, I say as I select […]
The musical group, Train, always makes me smile. Their songs have that nostalgic, feel-good feeling mixed in with a little hope and inspiration. I ran across one of their older songs on my running journey today – a song called “Calling All Angels” from 2003. Ten years later, the song is still relevant, perhaps even more […]
I have come to the end of my year-long running journey, where I had decided to run through the last twenty years of my music collection, going back-in-time with my thoughts and musings to see where it led. Each song or album that I acquired over the last twenty years had a memory or meaning attached to it. So I began the […]
About the Author
Sue McCusker is a writer, Bible teacher, and web developer who loves to share the stories of life and hope she sees around her every day. She has written for Guideposts and Angels on Earth magazines, and teaches the story of God in women’s Bible study. Her stories show how we can experience real faith in our everyday lives.
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