By Mike Kerwick - The Record

Five nights in Manhattan means five runs in Central Park.

"The reason I'm late calling you is because I was at a TAG class," Jo Dee Messina said during a recent phone interview. "They put you on a treadmill at the YMCA and they run you until your legs fall off."

It is a relatively new habit, something she originally picked up as a means to lose weight. Now the country singer is talking about getting into better shape, maybe taking a shot at the New York City Marathon.

Follow up:

"I was talking to my running coach yesterday," Messina said. "People always say, 'Oh runners, they're so focused.' Yeah, they're so focused on everything but running. It's all about how to get up this hill or how to make it through this last mile. You go someplace else in your mind."

So maybe her thoughts will drift from the park to her five-night, seven-show residency at Feinstein's. Messina doesn't know exactly what to expect, but wants her fans to know "it's like coming to the house."

"We do two songs and then the audience gets to ask questions, they get to request songs," Messina said, "so two nights are never the same. Every night is dictated by the audience."

She has gotten some odd requests at her shows, everything from occasional marriage proposals to songs she did not write. Messina hopes the New York audience sticks to "songs I know."

"Someone requested Dolly Parton's '9 to 5,' " Messina said. "I know this song, but there's a million words to it. I tripped over a couple words. As long as I [can] get to the chorus …"

A new Jo Dee Messina album is due out sometime this spring. The first single – "That's God" – is already available on iTunes. Messina was in Canada, wearing a tank top and shorts, when she caught a glimpse of a mountain in the distance.

"It was right there in front of me," Messina said. "It was so warm and balmy and then – boom! – there was a snow-capped mountain, a glacier lake. Its turquoise water looks like the islands, but it's made from the runoff of the mountain, so it's freezing cold."

Messina turned to her son and offered these six simple words: "Look, Noah. That's God right there."

She told the story on stage the following night. Her keyboard player urged her to bottle that feeling, to find words that would turn the story into song.

Messina expects to field requests for that song during her seven-show stand. She expects some of those oddball requests too.

Wonder if anyone will ask her to go running. …