Marching Band High School: The 1st NYC Marathon Band

NYC Marathon Course Section: Brooklyn, Miles 8-10

Right around the mile 8 marker in the New York City Marathon, the course takes a slight turn to the left onto Flatbush and a sharp turn to the right onto Lafayette. 4th Ave is a relatively wide street and during that segment the racers are divided so the orange bibs are on the left and the blue/green bibs are on the right. Traversing the turns into the 9th mile is where all the bibs converge into one united pack. The streets also become much narrower for a few miles. The neighborhoods through miles 8-10 really showcase Brooklyn’s historical character with the brownstones of Fort Green and Clinton Hill.

Marathoners Rocking New York Song:

Track #6: Marching Band High School

Time: 3:14

Tempo: 180 bpm

Treadmill Elevation: 2.0

NYC Marathon Course Section: Miles 8-10, Fort Greene & Clinton Hill, Brooklyn.

1979 was a special year for the New York Marathon. It was the first year that the students of Bishop Loughlin High School played alongside the racecourse making them the first marathon band. They keep the tradition up to this day playing the Rocky theme song over and over until all the runners have passed. Nowadays, they play alongside bands every few blocks of every genre of music. However, in 1979 they were a breath of fresh air to Sheena in the running rock concept album Marathoners Rocking New York. They snapped her back into the moment and inspired her with images of Rocky, the scrappy underdog who went the distance.

Download “Marching Band High School” on iTunes

Marching Band High School Lyrics:

CHORUS

Yeah! Marching Band High School

You’ve given me the fuel to fly so high

I swear I could reach the damn sky

VERSE 1

I was small I was feeling so small

I couldn’t even walk, all I could do was crawl

No matter how I cried nobody heard at all

The only thing left for me to do but fall but

Then you came and lifted me over that wall

CHORUS

VERSE 2

Feeling all right, gaining some height

The goal is in my sites and my pace is getting tight

Took a lot of work couldn’t do it over night

But my mind is in line now that I’ve seen the light

Thanks to you, I can get back up and fight

CHORUS

VERSE 3

Gotta go the distance, I’m going so long

I want it so bad that it can’t be wrong

Bobbing and weaving to get through this throng

But I know I’m gonna make it cuz I feel so strong

That’s the power unlocked by a song

CHORUS *Instrumental verse with guitar solo* CHORUS

Marathoners Rocking New York is the rock’n’roll-fueled journey of a 70’s punk loving young woman named Sheena. She’s on the cusp of turning 30 with nothing to show for it. Her rock star dreams are not coming true. She succeeded at the downtown party lifestyle but not at keeping a band together. After stumbling on the New York City Marathon with friends, Sheena accepts a drunken dare to run it the following year. To her surprise, and everyone else’s she actually does the training (with a little help) and makes it to the start line on time.

Sheena runs the marathon without music, so Marathoners Rocking New York is the guitar-driven soundtrack going on in her mind as she navigates the course. The songs are influenced by the early punk movement in 1970’s New York with bands like the Ramones, Blondie, The Patti Smith Group, and Television. The album is in an excellent tempo for running playlists and a useful tool for marathon training that can be downloaded through iTunes.