I LOVE music. When a good song comes on the radio I cannot help but sing along and move my body to the beat. Music makes me happy. It cheers me up if I’m feeling BLAH. It is there for me when I am sad – I can always find a song to relate to and somehow feel better from listening to it. Music feeds my soul and I do not know what I would do without some good tunes. I like ALL kinds of music – country, pop, ska, jazz, r&b, bluegrass, rap – ALL of it. There really is not a style of music that I can’t appreciate in some way. My husband and kids are the same way.
We have a “dance party” in our kitchen every night after dinner. Each of us gets to pick one song and then we rock out and groove around the kitchen like it’s nobody’s business. The dinner/bed time hour is by far the most stressful time of day for me but that 20 minutes of dancing and singing around our kitchen laughing and being crazy is medicine for all of us. It’s a great way for us to expend that last bit of energy before settling down for the night.
My kids and I listen to Radio Disney and Kids Place Live when we are in the car every day. I admit, I am a huge fan of Radio Disney and find myself listening to it when I am alone in the car just because I love the music most of the time. Other than time alone in the car though I don’t usually get to pick what music I get to listen to, so when I run with my ipod that is the one chance I get. When I am on the treadmill, I almost ALWAYS listen to music. It is a basic necessity for treadmill running in my opinion. The only exception is when I am running on my home treadmill and Will is playing in the play room – then I keep it off so I can hear him easily. I also listen to my music sometimes when I run long outside by myself. I rarely race with headphones, but this training cycle I have raced with them a few times and I have been glad that I did.
I have had issues with headphones though. Goodness knows how much money I have spent on trying to find a good pair that will stay in my ears! This past spring, I splurged and bought myself a pair of Yurbuds. They are awesome. They have never – not once – fallen out of my ears even on the longest of runs. The problem though is that the wiring has been faulty. The first time the sound went out, I bought a second pair because the warranty had expired. When the wiring went out on my second pair after only wearing them a handful of times, I called the company. The customer service at Yurbuds is AMAZING, people. They believe in their product and want their customers to be happy! It turns out that there was a bad batch of Yurbuds made and they were having a lot of troubles with the wiring. They have since improved the product and are looking to get a lifetime warranty for them. They sent me a new pair the other day along with a performance tee and I am pleased as punch about it.
Will I run with music in my marathon on Sunday? Not sure. I brought it with me to Lehigh Valley Marathon and did not even turn my ipod on until Mile 20 when I started having my serious stomach issues. I thought it would help distract me but instead it irritated me. I really want to soak up every bit of MCM on Sunday. I don’t think I will need my music to help motivate me when the going gets tough since the race is so exciting and the spectators are so incredible. I may decide to bring it with me just in case though, like I did at LVM.
What about you …. do you listen to music when you train? When you race? What head phones work best for you?
