San Diego DJ, Justin Kanoya, with the Fitbit crew at the 2016 Los Angeles Marathon.
The mile 22 cheer station at the Los Angeles Marathon had nearly as many cowbells for cheerleaders as there were runners ... okay, not really. But if you wanted a Fitbit cowbell, you received a Fitbit cowbell.
At the beginning of 2015 I wrote down a list of goals and among them were to DJ an event with at least 10,000 people and DJ at the start line of a major running event. Of course, if that second goal was met, that first one was pretty much in the bag.
A year later, I’m happy to report that I can essentially check mark both, thanks to my friends at Fitbit.
As one of the corporate sponsors for the Los Angeles Marathon, that took place on February 14, Fitbit has a major presence at all things related to the event. From the race expo, to a tent at the finish line to a cheer station at Mile 22. And that’s where I came in.
I was set-up -- along with a handful of amazing members of Fitbit’s marketing team and super volunteer Erin -- at Mile 22 to play music and cheer on runners as they made their final 4-mile push to the end.
And while it wasn’t at the start line, I can now check off “DJ for several thousand people” (20,000+ runners) and “DJ at a major running event” (the LA Marathon is kind of a big deal). You can even read about my own LA moment, with Josh Duhamel, which will probably go down as one of the most unreal coincidences in my life.
Lastly, I still have not run a marathon myself, but I can now say I DJ’d one, and in a way it was a marathon all on it’s own.
Here’s what a six hour setlist looks like.
- Anuhea - Higher Than The Clouds
- Crystal Bowersox - Midnight Train to Georgia
- Oasis - Wonderwall
- Magic! - No Way No
- Flo Rida - My House
- Prince Royce f./Snoop Dogg - Stuck On A Feeling
- Charli XCX f./Rita Ora - Doing It
- Iggy Azalea f./Jennifer Hudson - Trouble
- Coldplay - Adventure Of A Lifetime
- Aloe Blacc - The Man
- Fifth Harmony - Sledgehammer
- OneRepublic - Love Runs Out
- Maroon 5 - Maps
- Pitbull f./G.R.L. - Wild Wild Love
- Demi Lovato f./Cher Lloyd - Really Don't Care
- Kelly Clarkson - Stronger (What Doesn't Kill You)
- Pink - So What
- Ariana Grande f./Zedd - Break Free
- Kid N Play - Ain't Gonna Hurt Nobody (Select Mix Remix)
- Monie Love - It's A Shame
- MC Hammer - Turn This Mutha Out (Select Mix Remix)
- Coolio - 1-2-3-4 (Sumpin' New) (Select Mix Remix)
- Mariah Carey - Emotions (Select Mix Remix)
- US3 - Cantaloop
- Tony Toni Tone - Feels Good
- Imagine Dragons - On Top Of The World
- Lorde - Team (Select Mix Remix)
- Fergie - L.A. Love (La La) (Select Mix Remix)
- Natalie La Rose, Jeremih - Somebody (Select Mix Remix)
- Imagine Dragons - I Bet My Life (Select Mix Remix)
- Paramore - Ain't It Fun (Select Mix Remix)
- Ariana Grande f./Iggy Azalea - Problem
- Ja Rule - Livin' It Up (Select Mix Remix)
- Nelly - Hot In Here
- Wayne Wonder - No Letting Go
- Fat Joe - Get It Poppin'
- Big Tymers - This Is How We Do
- Usher - Yeah (Wedding Crasherz Break)
- K7 - Come Baby Come
- Janet Jackson - Rhythm Nation (Select Mix Remix)
- C&C Music Factory - Gonna Make You Sweat
- Icona Pop - Emergency (Ghassemi Remix)
- Alesso - Heroes (Basic Tape Remix)
- DNCE - Cake By The Ocean (Select Mix Remix)
- Ed Sheeran - Sing
- Pitbull, John Ryan - Fireball (Select Mix Remix)
- Clean Bandit, Jess Glynne - Rather Be (Select Mix Remix)
- Chromeo - Jealous (I Ain't With It) (Select Mix Remix)
- Afrojack, Mike Taylor - SummerThing (Select Mix Remix)
- Ariana Grande, Zedd - Break Free (Select Mix Remix)
- Maroon 5 - Sugar
- Robin Thicke f./Nicki Minaj - Back Together (Clean Edit)
- Tupac - California Love (Original Version)
- Dr Dre ft Snoop Dogg, Kurup & Nate Dogg - The Next Episode
- Dawin f./Silento - Dessert (Remix)
- Jackson 5 - I Want You Moombahback (FeestDJRuud & Naffz Bootleg)
- Beyonce ft Jay-Z - Crazy In Love (Mayeda Remix)
- Missy Elliott - Get Ur Freak On (Mayeda Remix)
- Discotron - Disco Ballin'
- DJ Cassidy f./Chromeo - Future Is Mine (Promo Only Intro Edit)
- Boyz II Men - Motownphilly
- INXS - New Sensation (Edge Remix)
- J. Geils Band - Centerfold
- Paula Abdul - Forever Your Girl
- Paula Abdul - Opposites Attract
- Whitney Houston - How Will I Know (Select Mix Remix)
- Madonna - Holiday
- Beastie Boys - Brass Monkey
- Young MC - Bust A Move
- Usher, Nicki Minaj - She Came To Give It To You (Select Mix Remix)
- Justin Bieber - Love Yourself (RENAIR Uptempo ReDrum Edit)
- Disclosure ft Sam Smith vs Justin Faust - Latch (Digital Dave Disco Fix)
- Avicii - Broken Arrows (Promo Only M-22 Intro Edit)
- Adele - When We Were Young (DiscoTech 2AM Radio Edit)
- Milky Chance - Stolen Dance (Uptempo Pop Mix)
- Beyonce - 7/11 (Tracy Young's Smack It In The Air Radio Edit)
- Nicki Minaj - The Night Is Still Young
- Jess Glynne - Hold My Hand
- LunchMoney Lewis - Bills (Promo Only Clean Edit)
- Zedd f./Selena Gomez - I Want You To Know
- Prince f./Zooey Deschanel - FALLINLOVE2NITE
- Charlie Puth - One Call Away (Lash Radio Edit)
- Krewella - Enjoy The Ride
- Calvin Harris & Disciples - How Deep Is Your Love
- Nelly Furtado - Do It
- Journey - Don't Stop Believin' (Live)
- Walk The Moon - Shut Up & Dance (G Duppy Remix)
- A-Ha - Take On Me (Kygo Remix)
- Disclosure ft Sam Smith - Latch (G Duppy Reggae Remix)
- Mutya Buenya - Real Girl
- Mack Wilds - Love In The 90z
- Nelly f./Jeremih - The Fix (Riddler Remix - Clean)
- Years & Years - King
- OMI - Hula Hoop
- Demi Lovato - Cool For The Summer
- Hailee Steinfeld - Love Myself
- Rudimental f./Ed Sheeran - Lay It All On Me
- Tove Lo - Talking Body
- Ariana Grande - One Last Time
- Mariah Carey - Heartbreaker
- Heavy D & The Boyz & Al B. Sure! - We Got Our Own Thang
- Mase - Feel So Good