Work That by Michelle Scribner-MacLean

Music and sports have always had a close relationship for me. For years I did step aerobics and the beat of a good song pushed me to go a bit further or to challenge myself to go faster. A carefully constructed playlist for walking or running also has the same effect”¦it helps you pick up your pace and can motivate you to do a little bit more.

Another interesting aspect of the music and sports connection is the way people adopt “anthems.” I’m sure you’ve been to a sports event where Queen’s We Will Rock You has had you jump out of your seat, clapping with thousands of other fans. At a Red Sox game, singing Neil Diamond’s Sweet Caroline with 32,000 of your closest friends is a cultural phenomenon not to be missed (unless you’re a Yankees fan, of course).

People have their own personal sports anthems, as well. These are those songs that have personal meaning, whose words motivate you to go on when your legs are tired, when you feel that you’ve given all you have.

Team AllEars has adopted the Black Eyed Peas’ Boom Boom Pow as a team anthem. It started when I heard my co-captain, Mike Scopa, singing this song that I had put onto his playlist. I got quite a chuckle (as Mike tends to be more of a Frank Sinatra, Michael Bublé type of fellow), shared it with the group, and before we knew it, we were all loading the song onto our MP3 players and greeting each other with an enthusiastic “Boom Boom Pow!” It’s become sort of our secret handshake (not so secret any more!).

My personal anthem lately is a song from the wonderful Mary J. Blige: Work That. This song speaks to me and when it pops into my iPod, I just want to do a little more.

Runners come in many shapes and sizes and have many ability levels. When I was lucky enough to be on the grandstand at the finish line of the Boston Marathon a few years ago, I was astounded by the variety of people crossing the line. There were the elite athletes, of course, but there were skinny runners, roundish sort of runners, young runners, old runners, runners pushing others in wheel chairs, runners helping others to the finish, runners in many types of clothing, from different countries around the world. It occurred to me for the first time that runners come in all shapes and sizes”¦.but one similarity was, in the words of Mary J., workin’ what they got!

I hear these words”¦.

Work your thing out
‘Cause so many you girls, I hear you been running
From the beautiful queen that you can be becoming
You can look in my palm and see the storm coming
Just because the length of your hair ain’t long
And they often criticize you for your skin tone
Wanna hold your head high, ’cause you’re a pretty woman
Get your runway stride home and keep it going

“¦and it reminds me that I don’t necessarily have a runner’s body, that I can’t always fit the running in when I want to, that I can’t always go as fast as I want to or for as long as I want to. The lyrics remind me of my TeamAllears running mates: we’re not perfect, we’re not professional runners, but we’re out there, and doing the best we can every day.

I just wanna be myself
Don’t sweat, girl, be yourself
Follow me, follow me, follow me
Guess what, I’ll be myself
(And I grew to love it)

I think of the people I’ve been lucky enough to meet this year. People who are adding training to their busy schedule to be prepared to run the Disney races in January… people who are different shapes and sizes, ability levels. These are special people who are running for a great cause”¦ breast cancer research.

So to my teammates — and to everyone else who is training for Disney races — I say it doesn’t matter how you do it. You need to do it your way. Go out and Work That.