Time Goes By So Slowly

Erin McKenna
2 min readNov 9, 2024

The famous song “Unchained Melody” has the lyrics, “Time goes by so slowly…”

I thought of those lyrics today as I did the elliptical at the gym.

Holy cow, I swear my concept of a second did not align with the machine’s concept of a second.

To help me get through the workout, I figured, let’s play some music. Maybe that will help the time go by faster.

Nay, nay, my friend.

Okay, in fairness, I could have picked different songs. I had decided to shuffle the music on my phone so the first song that popped up was “Children Will Listen” from Into the Woods. It is a beautiful song but, with no offense to Mr. Sondheim, it is not workout music.

The second song was “Stayin’ Alive” by the Bee Gees. You may think, “Disco? Disco is great workout music!” I will give you that. I love a good Donna Summer dance party.

However, I’m also sarcastic, and what was running through my mind was how I was going to stay alive through the end of the song.

Next song: “Like a Prayer” by Madonna. It’s a classic song and was a favorite of my high school running team (which is mildly entertaining considering its lyrics and the fact that we were at a Catholic school.) In fairness to Madonna, it was probably the best song on the list. It is deceptively long, so if you are at the point of the workout where you promise yourself to do the elliptical until the end of the song, it helps you extend your workout.

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Erin McKenna
Erin McKenna

Written by Erin McKenna

Writer hoping to spread joy and laughter. Loves dogs, pasta, Nova basketball, volunteering and learning about different cultures.