Running to the sound of myself

I listen to music on 90 out of 100 miles run. I sometimes choose to forgo music, but last night it was thrust upon me. I was out of town and packed everything I needed for my run except my headphones. And then I realized, I don’t NEED headphones, I just want them.

Not about to skip the run, I headed out sans music and a little pouty. And something delightful happened.

More conscious of the sound of my breathing, I realized I wasn’t pushing myself as hard in certain spots so I stepped it up, literally. I ran the best 5K I have ever run, actually. I had to stop and look at my watch and make sure I wasn’t missing something. It wasn’t like I cut 10 minutes off it or anything, for that you’d have heard me screaming with joy from every corner of the world. It was just under 2 minutes than my former best time, but still, that’s a huge change for me! 

I was far more aware of the runners around me. I was more aware of their breathing, the sounds of their footsteps in and around me. I found myself doing better matching the cadence of those that ran ahead of me and my cadence was one of the better I’ve had as well, too!

The sounds of squirrels rustling in the leaves, at least I told myself it was squirrels and not anything that slithers, the call of birds getting ready to roost for the night in their nests high above and the serene sounds of water over rocks in the stream along the path…people pay to go spend time in such places on vacation and here I was running by completely oblivious in the past and enjoying it tremendously without headphones to block that all out.

I noticed something else that I am going to do a better job of observing in the future. Most headphoned runners had grim or determined looks on their faces. Most without headphones were smiling, almost amused looking, even if they were running at a stellar pace. I think that the pleasure of nature infused the ‘hearing’ runners and the pre-recorded streaming that blocked out the natural stream kept the headphoned runners from gaining that extra joie de vivre.