With a little help from my friends

Okay seriously, this marathon cannot come soon enough. I had quite the traumatic morning this morning that had me all curled up on the bathroom floor (good thing I just cleaned it!) in between bouts of, uhm, “washroom issues,” and head-between-the-knees nausea, and full-on body sweats. I couldn’t stand up, not even hunched over, and I could barely even sit up. At first I thought I had food poisoning, then I thought, oh crap, I got the flu, but then, after awhile, I realized, nope it wasn’t any of the above, it was just another lovely extension of this damn stress I’ve been enduring all bloody week! Seriously, this is getting a bit tiresome already. And you know, freaking out is one thing when it’s in your head, but my god when it has you running to the washroom faster than you’ve ever run before all hunched over at like 5:51 a.m. – 10 minutes BEFORE the alarm goes off – not cool!

On the upside, though, maybe now the belly gods will take pity on me for race day and give me absolutely no port-a-potty issues whatsoever. A girl can dream can’t she 😀

It took about an hour before I could stand up for more than half a second, before I could somewhat beautify myself, before I could even think about eating breakfast, etc., etc.. But by lunch I was feeling much better, although, I was feeling the effects of dehydration. I think I downed like two litres of water before I finally started to feel hydrated again!

Later in the day, once I was feeling much better, I finished putting together my race day playlist. It was a three-day job, two lunch hours and a Saturday in-between baking, that resulted in a 122-song eclectic mix. I’ve got Audioslave, Green Day, Aerosmith, Justin Timberlake, early Pearl Jam, songs from Across the Universe, Linkin Park, Stone Temple Pilots, Rage Against the Machine, and yes quite the Eminem selection too. When Mario saw the mix of Eminem, he asked if I was planning on being angry on the run (he’s not a fan) and while I’m sure there may in fact be moments of anger (hopefully not too many) that’s not why Slim Shady made my list. Mostly, his lyrics make me laugh and I figure I’m gonna be in need of some good laughs along the way.

I mostly tried to pick songs with fast, head-bopping beats, songs that I could see myself running Super Katie like too, songs that could pull me out of a funk, songs that could motivate me, songs like I’m a Survivor from Destiny’s Child, and John Cougar Mellencamp’s Hurts So Good, and Motley Crue’s Kickstart My Heart and Bon Jovi’s Livin’ On a Prayer … obviously!

There is one song, however, that made it to the list that didn’t exactly fit the aforementioned criteria. It’s slow-paced and melodic and has a voice attached to it that could bring tears to even the strongest of hearts. But for me, Shawn Colvin’s Never Saw Blue Like That Before, is attached to a memory, one of the best memories of my life. The second I hear that song I know it’s going to take me back to my wedding day, back to when my knees were a shaking trying to manoever myself down a flight of stairs in heels and a super tight corseted up dress to where my soon-to-be husband was standing on grass covered with fall leaves (that he gathered for me!) waiting just for me – that song will get me to move.

And when I hear Joe Cocker singing With A Little Help From My Friends, I will instantly think of all of you and of your inspirational words and your support and your nudges of encouragement. I thank you in advance for helping me get to that finish line 😀

What’s on your race day playlist?