86: Disturbia

If you've been reading along here for a while, you might already know that my favorite song to run to is Rihanna's "Disturbia." It draws out emotions in me I don't otherwise have access to. It makes me run faster, and cry, and push harder, all at the same time. Even when I'm just passing the 72nd Street transverse during a training run, it has this effect.

The words and Rihanna's passion get at something genuine that lives inside me, and is very vulnerable, sometimes angry, and maybe a little unconventionally sexy. I play it once or twice when I need to get grounded during a run; darkness gets voiced, and I can then advance to The Blackeyed Peas.

I had the excellent fortune tonight to have been given first row seats to see my muse perform at Madison Square Garden. Plain and simple, Rihanna killed it. She's a 22-year-old hit machine! 20,000 people stood mesmerized for two hours.

Production value was on par with the typical tour, but nothing more. There were video screens, props, and dancers. It was only during "Disturbia" that they pulled out the stops. I think I gasped a little bit as the music came up and I saw what they were going to do. They brought out 30' tall live transformers, with legs and arms that taunted Rihanna in the shadow of an eerie, moving, nighttime background. Transformers creep the crap out of me. More than almost anything. I nearly had to walk out of "Avatar."

I've always assumed my own interpretation of "Disturbia's" lyrics was a bit more gruesome and twisted than it's meant to be, that I was mishearing the words, or over-dramatizing the chorus. Tonight I learned not. I will always think of Rihanna's live performance now when I am running and need to check in with myself and get to my gritty core. And I can picture transformers chasing after me for 26.2 miles, if I'm lucky enough to make it to the marathon, and need a little incentive to keep going.