The other day, my brother Bill sent me a link to what I consider to be a spot-on, simply great little piece of writing. It is an article, the title of which is, The Silent Cult of People Who Run Without Music.
I am one of these people.
Truth be told, 95% of the time I am one of these people. There are occasions when I charge up my iPod to ensure a bit of background noise occupies the space between my ears. Those occasions, however, are few and far between.
Running without music, for me, grew out of necessity. I am a morning runner. I am also almost exclusively an outdoor runner. I loathe running on a treadmill. I am also someone whose day in the office typically begins between 6 and 6:30 every morning. I do most of my running at sunrise, or earlier, with my weekday runs falling wholly into the latter category this time of year.
As a lawyer whose mortgage has been paid, almost exclusively, for the past three decades defending those whose negligence (including their negligence while driving) is alleged to have been a proximate cause of an accident in which another person or persons sustained an injury, I am keenly aware of the limitations of man. Hell, I count on man's innate flaws to keep food on my table and to keep my butt in "Julius" (my aging Tommy Bahama beach chair) on the sands of the Jersey Shore (I shall leave it to you to figure out which I deem to be of greater importance). I run with a noxgear vest so that drivers can see me from several blocks away as we approach one another. I run without music so that I can also hear them coming, including the ones approaching from behind me on the other side of the road.
Running without music allows my thoughts to power my run. Being alone with one's thoughts can be a dangerous place to be. I know of which I speak. I began this little piece of virtual pollution, in its original iteration, in 2008 as a way to both exercise my mind and to exorcise the voices inside my head elbowing one another for podium time.
Over the past couple of years, I have picked up another good reason for not running with music: Sam. I love running with my dog. She is my all-time favorite running companion. She is better company than any playlist any runner has ever compiled to accompany her or him on a run of any distance, I assure you. Plus, having invited her to come with me in order to keep me company while I am out there on the road, it would be exquisitely and unforgivably rude to ignore her by listening to music instead of interacting with her.
And besides, no running playlist - no matter how much Springsteen or Foo Fighters it might contain - has ever rewarded me with a salty kiss at run's end.
-AK
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