Best Running Music for a Marathon

Running to music with too slow of a pace can cause you to subconsciously slow down to the beat. Having the right beats per minute (bpm) for your running music can improve your performance. I am not a runner, but I have spent a lot of time making running playlists for my wife who has run many marathons. In doing so, I became aware of the importance of the bpm of a song and how it relates to your running pace. Many people like to run to "Eye of the Tiger", but at 109 bpm, it is way too slow. If you run to music that is too slow, you can subconsciously slow down to the beat of the song. There have also been several scientific studies done that show that having the "right" music actually improves your perfromance. The other issue with many of the running playlists out there is that the lyrics are just not motivational. I see running playlists w/ "Blister in the Sun" or "19th Nervous Breakdown" and while they might have good bpms, it just doesn't seem like what you want for running music in the middle of 26.2 miles.

So here are a list of sites that combine good music, bpm, and motivational songs: