A few years ago I read a review of a mobile app called Zombies, Run! It’s a neat idea, basically a narrative that you listen to while you go out in the real world and run. It’s kind of like a radio play, where the DJ is the “dispatcher” who has sent you, a runner, out from your home settlement into the post-apocalyptic zombie-filled world to pick up supplies. Of course, as you’re running you will come across packs of zombies and the dispatcher will exhort you to run faster as you hear zombies growling and chasing you.
Running is my least favorite exercise. It hurts and it’s boring. No other exercise gives me quite the same “feels like my lungs are bleeding” feeling. But I have to admit, having some fun little narrative to focus on helps to pass the time and distract me from hating running.
The app isn’t one long radio play though. You can pick music from your library to play, and the app will play these audio vignettes in between the songs (like I said, just like a DJ). However, for some reason, the only music the app recognized from my library was an album by Florence + The Machine. Probably some weird thing with incompatible DRM.* That’s OK, I can dig it. Go with the Flo, so to speak. Sorry.
Anyway, so I was running pretty regularly, every time listening to the same Florence + The Machine album, and then hearing zombies approaching in between songs. I got a little better at running, and I got in a little better shape. And then work got busy and I fell out of the habit. I should really pick it up again.
But here’s the thing, I’ve noticed now that whenever I hear a song by Florence + The Machine, I get this paranoid feeling that zombies are going to pop out around the corner and start chasing me. So if we’re hanging out somewhere and “The dog days are ooooverrrr……” starts coming out of the speaker, that’s why I’m looking around and checking all the blind spots.
* Sidenote; Apple, your iTunes software is bad and you should feel bad.