INPUT ARTICLE: Article: Sounds too easy to be true, but it works. When you're getting ready for a run, you may want to have music categories for different distances. When you're running and hear a song, you'll know if you're on track or if you need to change your pace. Start off with some of your favorite upbeat songs, and have the beat increase as time goes on so that you continue to be motivated. Jog.fm has a number of great songs that are perfect for 7-minute miles. You'll find yourself falling in stride with the music, unable to break the beat even if you wanted. A playlist that is at 100% speed can provide the just-right environment you need to power through. If you don't know anyone faster than you, join a local running club or triathlon club, you'll meet plenty of fast runners. As you're running behind them, follow their pace and watch their movement and legs...without realizing it your rhythm and pace will match theirs and make your strides longer and pace faster. But not super faster than you. Watching someone lap you is just frustrating. You want to aim for a friend that's about 30 seconds faster than you are -- not much more, not much less. So often we'd like to do things with ourselves and that liking to do things just isn't strong enough. We need to set ourselves out on a path that we can't deviate from. So figure yours out! How many times a week are you willing to run? What days and when? What kind of running? What will you do? A weight loss plan might not hurt, either. Losing even 5 pounds can put a bit more pep in your step. If there's some wiggle room in your diet (that is, you could make some improvements), consider this idea. The lighter you are, the easier it is for your body to carry you. Look to decrease your mile time by a set amount of seconds each week until you reach your goal of 7 minutes. Start every run by saying if it's a Maintenance Run, Challenge Run or an "I'm Feeling Lucky" Run. Setting expectations for yourself will encourage you to run with a purpose in mind, not wanting to break your promises.  A Maintenance Run means you're running just for the sake of getting some exercise. Feelin' good, blowing off some steam, releasing endorphins and the like. A Challenge Run is great when you've had a stressful day and have lots of energy (channel that energy to your run). Aim to knock off somewhere around 15-30 seconds every mile. An "I'm Feeling Lucky Run" is just that — a rare day where everything has fallen in the right place. Use this excitement to try to beat your own personal record. Decide and plan your run before and finish it with the goal you had. The motivation to prove to yourself how awesome you are may take you through to the finish line. Because these awesome things you're doing deserve to written down. That and you'll forget one of those numbers you pegged last week and wonder what the heck your goal should be for the next day. And in a year's time you can look and see how many thousands of miles you've run. Awesome. Seeing the numbers concretely will show you just what you're capable of, what you've already motivated yourself to do, and where the next feasible step is. You'll make so much progress that breaking stride won't even seem like an option.

SUMMARY: Run with music. Run with someone faster than you. Figure out a plan. Set target goals. Keep a log.

INPUT ARTICLE: Article: Presidential campaigns are expensive. According to the final federal finance report, the campaign cost of the 2012 presidential election tallied out at around $2,000,000,000.  So if you can get anywhere near half of that, you're set.  Diversify fundraising strategies. You can rely on a political party if you are the chosen candidate of that party. If you face other party members in a primary or you do not belong to a major party (that above figure being why most join one of the two major parties), you will need to raise money from other sources. Raise money from large donors as well as small. In 2012, presidential candidates were attending events that cost donors $1,000 a ticket and appealing for $3 donations online. To become president, you will need to shake hands, attend small town events and visit factories, veterans, churches, farms and businesses. You'll need to put away those diamond cufflinks of yours and roll up your khakis. Al Gore said he invented the Internet. John Edwards had an affair. Mitt Romney said half of US voters don't pay taxes. That's just three things Americans don't like. Wherever you are -- whether you think you're being recorded or not -- be on your best behavior. The public doesn't easily forget these things. Each state has a different way of choosing a president -- a caucus, a primary, or some combination of the two. Winning those grants you delegates that choose you to be on the presidential ticket, celebrated at the party's national convention that year. Every state is a bit different, and the party themselves are different as well. Republicans have "pledged" and "un-pledged" delegates; Democrats have "pledged delegates" and "super delegates." Some are a winner-take-all system, while others give you a percentage of delegates to match the percentage of votes you received. Once you emerge as the strongest candidate in your political party, you will hold a convention where all the delegates will pledge their support for your candidacy. It used to be that the convention was actually where the delegates voted, but now there's media coverage where everyone already knows who won, so it's a bit more symbolic. Either way, it's a party in your name.  It's one day where each party prefers to concentrate on how awesome they are instead of how terrible the other is. So enjoy the short-lived positivity! This is also where you will declare your running mate. This is pretty big -- if people don't approve of your choice, you could lose votes. So think it through! This is a narrow field that often pits two major candidates against each other, one from the Republican Party and one from the Democratic Party. It's about to get real. Enter the race as a third party if you do not have the backing of a major party, but still want to be president. Other parties that support presidential candidates include the Green Party, Natural Law Party and Libertarian Party. Presidential candidates have also run as Independents. You'll be flying from San Francisco to Chicago to New York City in one day. You'll be exhausted and running on fumes and adrenaline. You'll be shaking hands, smiling, and making speeches like you're some sort of unstoppable robot. And maybe you are! The campaign is generally broken down into three parts: grassroots, on the ground and in the air. Grassroots is what you've already done -- put down your roots, gotten stable; on the ground is what you're doing now -- almost literally hitting the ground (from coast to coast) running; then you'll go in the air -- media frenzy after media frenzy.

SUMMARY:
Raise money. Appeal to average Americans. Win primary elections, caucuses and delegates. Attend your party's convention. Run in the general election. Campaign, campaign, campaign.