I have lost my ipod, well, I have lost two ipods actually and so for the past fortnight I have been running to the sound of silence. Just me and the sound of feet hitting the road. As I do a lot of my running by myself I listen to music while I run, throw on the earphones and away I go, and when motivation is low and the thought of doing that interval session by myself is as attractive as an ice bath in January, I stick on some beats and it helps me haul my ass around the track. I have always run with music, I remember back in 1996 I had a tape player that I would shove in to the back pocket of a cycling jersey as I ran around the Tank field in Mayfield. They were pretty dark and muddy nights on a six minute lap but music made it a lot easier.
I have struggled without my musical accompanyment – it has definitely made me question my dependance on it.
Without my music I have been gotten back to “pure” running. One thing I have noticed is that it has made me change my run routes; I now find my old routes very boring. This week I have run four out of five days and each day has been a different route. It seems without music I just become bored with the same old places and now I find myself wandering down different roads, looking for new places to run.
Gavin Noble, laced up tight and ready to go the distance last August
Running to your favourite songs is a fantastic feeling, you’re light on your feet, the beat kicks in and it’s hard not to pick up the pace, (steady as she goes now), just make sure you’ve got the right sort of songs on. My brother slated me for the quality of some of the songs that existed on my ipod. We are all music snobs of some sort. The songs he slated I call my valuable guilty pleasures, totally necessary when it’s dark, wet and cold outside. Put one of these songs on and even though it’s miserable out there, you will be trucking along in no time.
Those are my few thoughts on running to music. Now all I have to do is find my ipod and once again get bored of the tunes that I play way too much whilst running along my well-trod paths in the Phoenix Park. Next week i’ll put together a little running mix for you kids to download (guilty pleasure songs and all). In the meantime here are some of my songs that I just love to run to.
Run, Run, Run, Run, Run, Run, Run, and finally my favourite of all run songs. Let’s go run fast, very fast
Oh and racing with music – it’s a big NO, NO. Don’t do it.
Running with somebody and listening to music is just ignorant.
Cycling with music is being stupid. Cycling with music in a group and you’re being an asshole.
Aileen Morrison after going the distance
