It Gets Me High: Tapping the Runner’s High

NYC Marathon Course Section: Williamsburg & Greenpoint, Miles 10-13

Williamsburg and Greenpoint are great neighborhoods in Brooklyn to experience a runner’s high. The New York City Marathon course turns onto Bedford Ave and enters South Williamsburg. This is a very strict Hasidic Jewish neighborhood. It is a more quiet section of the course in terms of crowd support. There is a very slight uphill at this point so it’s a good time for runners to collect their thoughts before the raucous party that’s about to take place in North Williamsburg. This neighborhood and nearby Greenpoint used to be a factory-thick industrial area but now they’re trendy places full of artists and musicians. Loud rock bands and cheering crowds will definitely be out in full force. Williamsburg & Greenpoint are divided by the lovely McCarren Park before turning from Bedford onto Manhattan Ave. There is also a pleasant downhill further enabling a good running high.

Marathoners Rocking New York Song:

Track #7: It Gets Me High

Time: 4:02

Tempo: 180 bpm

Treadmill Elevation: 0.0

NYC Marathon Course Section: Miles 10-13- Williamsburg and Greenpoint, Brooklyn

Sheena loves to feel high. Life in New York has been full of high highs and low lows for her. In Marathoners Rocking New York, the song “It Gets Me High” is a meditation on the natural high that comes from running or playing music. In many ways she prefers that kind of high and wishes she could always be in the state she experiences during a good long run or playing one of her favorite songs. The Williamsburg/Greenpoint section of the NYC Marathon with it’s relatively flat/downhill sections starts to bring that feeling up. She is fully warmed up and feeling alive having conquered most of Brooklyn and nearly half of the marathon while still feeling energized to take on the next half.

Download “It Gets Me High” on iTunes

It Gets Me High Lyrics:

VERSE 1

All I need are these three chords.

All I need are these three chords

They’re so good I can’t get bored.

CHORUS

It gets me high. It gets me high

It gets me high. High-igh-igh

It gets me high. It gets me high

It gets me high. High-igh-igh

VERSE 2

All I need is the open road

All I need is the open road

Running till I lose my load

CHORUS

VERSE 3

I’ve got an endless song in my head

It keeps me going till I’m dead

I’ve got an endless song in my head. It keeps me going till I’m dead

CHORUS

All my friends they think I’m drunk. They think I’m nuts because I run

but what they should know is, that I’m already nuts,

and what they should know is that running is so punk

CHORUS VARIATION

running,   running, running is so punk

I love it,   I love it and I can’t get enough

VERSE 3

I can’t stop I’m addicted to speed.

Muscle and sweat is all I need.

I can’t stop I’m addicted to speed.

Muscle and sweat is all I need.

Muscle and sweat is all I need.

VERSE 4

All I need are these three chords.

All I need are these three chords

They’re so good I can’t get bored.

It get me high high high high….

high high high high….

Marathoners Rocking New York is the rock’n’roll-fueled journey of a 70’s punk loving young woman named Sheena. She’s on the cusp of turning 30 with nothing to show for it. Her rock star dreams are not coming true. She succeeded at the downtown party lifestyle but not at keeping a band together. After stumbling on the New York City Marathon with friends, Sheena accepts a drunken dare to run it the following year. To her surprise, and everyone else’s she actually does the training (with a little help) and makes it to the start line on time.

Sheena runs the marathon without music, so Marathoners Rocking New York is the guitar-driven soundtrack going on in her mind as she navigates the course. The songs are influenced by the early punk movement in 1970’s New York with bands like the Ramones, Blondie, The Patti Smith Group, and Television. The album is in an excellent tempo for running playlists and a useful tool for marathon training that can be downloaded through iTunes.