Oh, by the way... leave your iPod at home (Read 1650 times)

Eye of the Tiger - Survivor Lame. That's why you'll not beat your PR, not the headphones.

BTW, I think that races that allow the use of headphones/earbuds should require users to wear a "hearing impaired" sign on their backs....as deaf runners do. I have done that when running races without my hearing aids.

And we have a solution.

And we have a solution.

What was the problem actually? I don't get wearing headphones in races but I could care less if someone else does. Headphones make you slower. It's true. I have conducted scientific, peer-reviewed studies that PROVE it. You can too. First, go to a road race. Next, watch the finishers and count how many of the 20 finishers are wearing headphones. Next, count how many of the next 20 finishers are wearing headphones, then the next 20, etc. You will find that the farther back in the pack you get, the higher the concentration of headphone wearers. Therefore, by using swamp aesthetic logic and erlang tables for statistical analysis, this proves that headphones make you slower. If a runner wants to do something in a race to make himself slower, I say to each his own (as long as he lines up behind me.) Also, Eye of the Tiger was a great song.

"Classic defense strategy, my dengerous thing isn't as bad as X,Y,Z dangerous thing so I should be allowed to do it. Sorry, but sunglasses are not as dangerous as running w/ headphones, while there may be no studies to back this up there are plenty of anecdotal evidence that headphone wearers cause problems for other runners and I have never heard of someone saying "'that person wearing sunglasses is a nuisance" . Besides you can only see what is in front of you, and a bit to the side w/ peripheral vision. The problems headphone wearers cause is what goes on behind and beside them where they can't see. (hearing works in 360 degrees, it's cool like that). I have heard of races being canceled or postponed due to ice or lighting, but when that danger is to great the race directors are trying to protect everyone in the race, just like banning headphones is for everyone's protection." I've ran 20 of 21 races with headphones and have not ever once caused myself or anyone else to be in "danger". I turn and look behind anytime I make any lateral move, whether in a race, on the track or running the streets. I live in the middle of an urban area and do most of my runs on busy streets, many times crossing through heavy traffic and I am very aware of my surroundings. Compared to darting through and around Quincy Center at 5:30 PM (especially when its dark and icy), races couldn't seem any safer. "Got it, you're tougher than all of us who have never, ever, even once ever played a contact sport." If running next to someone who wears headphones is too dangerous for you, well... "Are you sure it didn't say no headphones on the registration form, you know in the waiver we all have to sign before entering any race, but rarely read all the way through? Maybe it didn't and if not I agree they shouldn't change at the last minute." It was an online form and definitely didn't say anything about headphones. "That is a great attitude to have about rules, do you follow that philosophy on all rules you don't like?" No, not usually.

D'oh.

Sorry, but I didn't graduate HS in 1987... those songs you mentioned sound more like something a person with a Gerry Cheevers avatar would listen to. My playlist for the race will probably look something like this: http://www.runningahead.com/forums/post/17f211dad91b4fdd90edaea7f7698965#focus

Ah yes, this looks like the playlist of someone who graduated in '94.

Sorry, but I didn't graduate HS in 1987... those songs you mentioned sound more like something a person with a Gerry Cheevers avatar would listen to. My playlist for the race will probably look something like this: http://www.runningahead.com/forums/post/17f211dad91b4fdd90edaea7f7698965#focus

Holy crap. You're complaining that you can't run w/o some house music and final kick supported by "Smack my Bitch Up," and "Eye of the Tiger?" (released, by the way, in 1982). Really? Anyway, we both know that when you read my post, you smacked your head and said "Jump Around, now that's a great song. I forgot about that." You crack me up. Fight the power (oh wait, that is on my Ipod).

I've ran 20 of 21 races with headphones and have not ever once caused myself or anyone else to be in "danger".

I could not possibly care less about this now decaying horse - unless you drop your pod in front of me at a big city marathon - but I can't help but point out the blisteringly obvious problem with the above logic. In my earlier, slightly dumber years, I probably drove a dozen times after having a few (read: several) too many beers. These dumber years were generally overseas, and most of those inebriated drives involved a 20 mile trip on the A94 on the way north towards Aberdeen, Scotland. At 90 miles an hour, driving on the wrong side of the road, with the steering wheel on the wrong side of the car. And yet I never got a ticket. Or caused an accident! So clearly - by your logic - drunk driving is perfectly safe. Right? Or maybe - just maybe now, bear with me - it makes a little more sense to compare my own stupid-but-fortunate experience with drunk driving with the mountain of empirical data that suggests I was just lucky. Or if we really have to cling to lame anecdotal data ... how about I Google "drunk driving deaths" and see if everybody is as lucky as my experience seems to prove? Or hey, here's a crazy thought: maybe your anecdotal experience could be put in context with the dozens or hundreds (thousands?) of injuries and deaths to iPod wearing runners every year. I think every runner knows of at least a couple such stories. And I've never met an iPod wearer - including me - who hasn't had a couple close calls because of self-induced deafness. (And of course, anecdotal evidence matters, right?) You get my point. To be blunt, to argue that its safe - to you, and especially to other runners - is just plain stupid. Its not. You know its not. You'll probably get away with it. Most drunk drivers do, too. But at least they've got the common sense to know that they shouldn't be doing it and not to argue something that is plainly factually ridiculous. No offense intended, BC. I do think some folks are being pretty hard on you. I love my iPod personally and I won't give it up, either. But I'll also admit that if I wear it in a race, I might be being stupid. Which rarely stops me from doing things. So if we have to continue pummeling poor Mr. Ed, let's keep it friendly. And vaguely based on reality.