The safety guidelines for running on base preclude me from wearing any type of headset or personal speaker system. Don't laugh, I actually have a personal speaker system that I can hook up if I could. I agree with this rule, and give very withering looks to the people in flagrant violation of base policy. Honestly, there are so many heavy construction and tactical vehicles running around, it really isn't very safe to run with something in your ears.
That being said, I have to put some miles on the pavement. Running on a treadmill allows me to plug in the tunes, but proper gym etiquette forces me to vacate the machines after every half hour, and there are only so many working machines in the closest gym. In order to really log some time, I have to go outside.
The problem is that I am quite the talker - to myself. The other day I actually got sick of listening to myself, talking to me. I'm constantly going through scenarios, discussing issues, bringing up problems...and it just so happened that on this day, even I didn't want to listen to myself babble on.
I think the idea, when I first thought of running long distance, was to be actively meditating, a type of running with some Tai Chi or Chi Gong mixed in. What I have found, however, is that when I have a captive audience, I tend to want to talk.
It might be the pace - at the pace I usually find myself, I have no problem talking. I am breathing heavily, but not so much that I can't speak. This physical ability to speak somehow allows my mental thoughts to be voiced in my head. I don't philosophize when I'm running for time, out of breath and holding the stitches in my sides.
I also don't think when running to music. I may run through a fantasy or two to music, but fantasizing and thinking are two different activities in my head, and only one of them exhausts me.
Even though it might be a safety hazard, I think I'm going to need my tunes on a forty mile run. I might throw myself down a hill otherwise.
That being said, I have to put some miles on the pavement. Running on a treadmill allows me to plug in the tunes, but proper gym etiquette forces me to vacate the machines after every half hour, and there are only so many working machines in the closest gym. In order to really log some time, I have to go outside.
The problem is that I am quite the talker - to myself. The other day I actually got sick of listening to myself, talking to me. I'm constantly going through scenarios, discussing issues, bringing up problems...and it just so happened that on this day, even I didn't want to listen to myself babble on.
I think the idea, when I first thought of running long distance, was to be actively meditating, a type of running with some Tai Chi or Chi Gong mixed in. What I have found, however, is that when I have a captive audience, I tend to want to talk.
It might be the pace - at the pace I usually find myself, I have no problem talking. I am breathing heavily, but not so much that I can't speak. This physical ability to speak somehow allows my mental thoughts to be voiced in my head. I don't philosophize when I'm running for time, out of breath and holding the stitches in my sides.
I also don't think when running to music. I may run through a fantasy or two to music, but fantasizing and thinking are two different activities in my head, and only one of them exhausts me.
Even though it might be a safety hazard, I think I'm going to need my tunes on a forty mile run. I might throw myself down a hill otherwise.
