I’m running just about every day these days. I get up, I put on my stretch clothes, strap on my Epipen and emergency packet of Benadryl (you know, just in case we decide to analphylaxize*), pop in my earbuds, and go outside.

I can’t tell myself I’m running though. No way. Telling myself I’m running is entirely too much pressure to put on myself as soon as I get up. Instead I tell myself sweet lies; Hey there champ, good morning. Why don’t we get up now and go out. It’s just a walk. And hey, if we end up running, well then just run, alright? Something like that.

How funny that my high-bar, reach for the stars, no less than perfect perfectionism and obsessive compulsiveness that brought my life this far would manifest in my mid-thirties private life as mediocre low-bar-motivational white lies.

Anyway, here’s the About An Hour playlist for August. Nick says the first song belongs in a European dance club. He’s not wrong, but that comment ain’t right either. The song is by some artist I’ve never heard of with a prominent featuring of Swedish singer/bop-songwriter Tove Lo. It’s the one song that makes me run a little faster when my walk-run lies turn into a full once-a-week workout where I basically sprint up a hill at the base of Mount Diablo. Anything that pushes my cardio into peak zone for that long and makes it feel that fun deserves to be #1 on my hourly monthly playlist project.

So, which side are you on, internet strangers? Nick’s or mine? Put another way, doesn’t Tove Lo deserve some praise for how much damn fun her music makes me feel?

- - - - -

*Not a word. Do not care.