Laura Branigan “Most Inspirational”? Only In The Twisted Mind Of The Marathon Runner

Now playing on that marathon runner’s iPod is Laura Branigan*:

For many of the nearly 37,000 participants in the ING New York City Marathon yesterday, iPod-fed adrenaline helped them kick through those grueling final miles.

“I had my go-tos ready for the end of the race,” a 37-year-old physician, Natalie Poppito, said. While scrolling through an 80-song play list that was custom made for the marathon, Ms. Poppito touted “Gloria” by Laura Branigan and “Blister in the Sun” by the Violent Femmes as most inspirational.

Although headphones were noticeably absent from top finishers, Ms. Poppito was one of the many marathoners yesterday who relied on favorite motivational music as the source of that extra burst of energy.

“Music is a huge part of the runner’s routine,” a 40-year-old owner of a chain of health food stores in Arizona who was stretching out in Central Park after the race, Kevin Easler, said. Just two weeks before the race, Mr. Easler’s iPod crashed, engendering what he called “a really anal and uptight planning process.”

Mr. Easler, who said he listens to hard rock and punk music while running, immediately went out and bought a new iPod. When he brought it home, he found the new iPod required an upgraded operating system, which, of course, his computer couldn’t support. “I had to buy a whole new computer and refill my entire music library just before the race.”

For others, music provided a clock of sorts. “My goal was 4 hours and 15 minutes, so I put exactly 4 hours and 20 minutes of music on my iPod,” a 27-year-old elementary school teacher from the Upper East Side who had just finished her second ING New York City Marathon, Erica Selkowe, said. Using her empirical knowledge from 2005, Ms. Selkowe paced the early parts of the race with easy-listening pop and R&B, saving her Beyonce and other upbeat dance music for the home stretch. “I couldn’t sleep last night so I worked on my play list until midnight,” she said.

*Actual lyric:

Gloria, you’re always on the run now
Running after somebody
You gotta get him somehow
I think you’ve got to slow down
Before you start to blow it
I think you’re headed for a breakdown
So be careful not to show it

You really don’t remember
Was it something that he said
Are the voices in your head
Calling, Gloria

Hrm . . .