I love running with music. There have even been times that I postponed my run to charge my headphones or phone just enough to make it through the run. Pretty sad, huh? It wasn’t always this way. Once upon a time, I never ran with music. Never. In fact, not only did I not run with music, I was dogmatically anti-music on the run. How narrow-minded of me.
To be fair, I came of age in a pre-digital world. When I started running way back in, gosh, 9th grade, I think, the only option was a bulky cassette player with uncomfortable foam-covered stiff headphones that made your ears sweat. Yuck! Later, we had the ubiquitous Discman, which if you’ve ever even tried to walk at more than a stroll with one of those, you know how impossible it would be to run with one.
So, I was never enmeshed in a culture of musical running. Then, once music devices went digital and got smaller and smaller and then switched to everyone’s phone, I just kept on keeping on – listening to my thoughts, the traffic, the birds, people shouting and laughing. It never bothered me. I used to cruelly deride the people who listened to music. They didn’t actually enjoy running or they were mentally weak. What was wrong with them? Absolutely nothing! They knew something that I didn’t learn until years later – that running with music is amazing!
The first time I ran with music was because I was living in an apartment with a gym that had a treadmill. In the end, it turns out that I did need something to keep me distracted, mostly so I didn’t have to listen to whatever the other gym-goers were watching on the TV. Eventually, I noticed that, when on my outdoor runs, I missed the influence of the music on my mental state, so I started bringing my music along with me – at that point on a tiny little iPod shuffle that I don’t think they even make anymore.
So it has been for a long time – me and my music. I have always loved the way that music can completely immerse me in a specific feeling or change the way I’m feeling depending on what I need. I have used it for a long time when writing so I can get into the mood I want for the piece I’m working on. I’ve used it when I’m feeling depressed to both sink further into that mood (not healthy!) or to help me feel a little bit better (much better!). I’ve used it when I’m anxious to calm myself. And, I use it for running.
Now that I run so early in the morning, I have a specific “Good morning!” playlist to help me wake up and feel my best. When I want to run easy, I listen to relaxing music. I also like to use a mix of faster- and slower-paced songs for a “musical fartlek” to get in some unstructured speed work. For you non-runners, “fartlek” is Swedish for “speed play.” It has nothing to do with a musical butt.
I don’t always run with music. Next to where I live in Madrid is a wide, paved path along the Manzanares river. It is well lit, not isolated, and even at 6am, I still see about a dozen other runners, cyclists, and dog walkers. If I run in the other nearby parks with more trees and hiding places in the morning, such as Casa de Campo, I don’t bring my music. I like to be able to hear everything I can. In part because of danger, but also in an even larger part because Casa de Campo has foxes, owls, and wild boar that I would always like to hear and maybe see. And, in the case of the boar, mostly avoid.
I also don’t listen to music if I’m doing a hard effort. I find that it just is distracting in a bad and annoying way. At those times, I often just want the singers to shut up with their noisy voices, so I often find myself ripping off my headphones at some point after a warm-up.
Lastly, I tend not to listen to music in new places or on single-track, especially where I may encounter mountain-bikers, because for all our safety, I want to be able to hear them. But, I am listening to music now as I write and I will probably listen to it while running tomorrow. I can’t wait to choose my playlist!
