Music for running to

Apart from flying, running is for me the best way of listening to music, too (though currently I am training myself to listen to music while I am working; that's only possible if I'm doing something that does not require exceptional use of brainpower).

Randomising is nice, so I hear different things; also because it goes on and on, and I generally run for longer than the average CD. If it does not shuffle I'll have to shuffle my feet instead while finding the next desirable track - and that messes up my time. It would be lovely to run with one of those tiny ipod thingies, but at 1 Gb hardly anything fits on it at all, and I'd spend all my time administering and reorganising music from the big 'un to the the littl' un. So instead I hope I won't get robbed.

It needs to be continuously reasonably loud - so the Schnittke viola concerto and Kancheli Styx are out. They may have loud moments, but also extreme quietness, and that's no good. A bit of a beat is nice - does not have to match the pounding of my feet.

• Rossini operas are great for running - they have a nice pace and you can do the actions very nicely...in Tbilisi women running in the streets are a rarity anyway, so it does not matter if you look a bit more crazy.... just have to make sure that although my lips may move that the vocal chords are at rest. For a while the Barber of Seville was my constant running companion - now I know the first hour and a bit very well.....
• Big symphonic music is lovely; today I was listening to Schumann's symphonies 2 and 4 at my desk; they would work well. As do Shostakovich symphonies, probably also Beethoven, and Tchaikovsky (bit shocked to see I have none of his music..Probably not the ballet music, though, especially the dance of the four little swans). I discovered the Nielsen symphonies...
  
• Bach's got the beat, and the relative loudness, but his music can be a bit dry for running, unless it's a Passion or the Mass in B Minor. The Ciaconna would not really lend itself. Also most baroque pieces are relatively short, and that throws the rhythm. Though in those passions those endless boring chorales really are quite a passion killer, especially when he uses the same tune all the time (even if it may be treated differently each time).
  
• Chamber music is probably not ideal, though I remember hearing some piece played by Geringas with Nemtsov which was rather powerful stuff - but can I find it now? ...Have I lost music off my Ipod???