Love Songs, Miles, Beautiful Chaos
Love Songs, Running Playlists, Miles, Beautiful Chaos
When Endurance Athletes Talk Love Songs
What happens when you give two endurance athletes microphones, ask them to talk about love songs and running playlists, then let technology completely abandon the plan?
You get What’s In Your Earbuds? – Love Songs Edition: A Beautiful Disaster and honestly, it felt very on brand.
This episode started the way many of my favorite endurance stories do: not polished, not perfect, and absolutely full of heart. Joe Hardin’s internet decided it was done for the day, Instagram had opinions, Restream caught feelings, and Facebook stepped in like the reliable training partner you didn’t expect. And the community? They showed up immediately, reminding me (again) that Run Tri Bike has never been about perfection….it’s about people.
Love Songs in Titles, Lyrics, and Artists
How the Playlist Immediately Went Off the Rails
Once Joe finally arrived, with working audio, miracles happen, the rails officially disappeared. The original mission was simple: talk about songs that involve love somewhere in the title, the lyrics, or the artist’s name.
What followed was a joyful, chaotic tour through music history, pop culture, and some deeply passionate takes including my unwavering stance that Cardi B’s “WAP” is absolutely a love song. I will not be taking questions at this time.
From Huey Lewis and the News’ “The Power of Love” launching a Back to the Future tangent, to debates that somehow connected Michael J. Fox, mixtapes, and endurance training vibes, this episode delivered peak What’s In Your Earbuds? energy. You come for the love songs. You stay because you’re laughing mid-run wondering how we got here.
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Why Music Matters for Endurance Training
Community, Nostalgia, and Long Runs
The Run Tri Bike community brought the heat by calling in from Pennsylvania, North Carolina, New York, Illinois, Indiana, Arizona, California, and beyond. The song list alone could fuel a 75-hour Spotify playlist: Lionel Richie, Stevie Wonder, Nine Inch Nails, Guns N’ Roses, T-Pain, and yes… Watermelon Sugar made the cut.
Somewhere between cassette mixtapes, burned CDs, Napster nostalgia (RIP to every family computer), and random facts about celebrity mixed CDs, this episode became something bigger. It became a reminder of why music matters—especially for endurance athletes.
Music gets us through long runs, hard workouts, emotional lows, and finish-line highs. It makes us laugh. It helps us survive tempo runs we didn’t want to do. And sometimes, it reminds us that none of this has to be so serious.
By the end, new goals were born: a 75-hour playlist and listener representation from all 50 states. Seven down. Plenty to go.
Hit play. Add a song. Laugh mid-mile. And welcome back to What’s In Your Earbuds?
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