Does Running with Music Limit or Add to the Experience?

Once in college, I had the chance to meet legendary UCLA basketball coach John Wooden. He must have been in his 80s or 90s during our meeting, which was right before he died. Of course, at his age, everyone considered John Wooden a basketball fundamentalist–including himself. Coach Wooden talked about how slam dunks had ruined the game and stripped it of so many important fundamentals like the lay-up. When I think about running with or without music, I am reminded of my meeting with Coach Wooden.
On one hand, a running fundamentalist mentality would suggest music distracts from the meditative quality running can have. But, one imagines, where would basketball be without Michael “Air” Jordan and the 360 dunk? Much like basketball and the slam dunk, running with music is also a new development. For those of us who have always known a Walkman, jogging headphones, or an iPod, it’s hard to imagine any other way.
Whether music adds to or distracts from your running experience probably comes down to whether you are a running purist or not. Newer generations are always plugged into some kind of electronics, social media, etc. It would make perfect sense to this person to run with music–why else do you have the iPod, right? If you’re more of a John Wooden type, Facebook, iPods, cell phones, and so on probably just seem like nuisances. To some people the slam dunk ruined the game; to others it put the game on the map–just like running with music. Either way, on your next run, switch it up. If you always run plugged in, go “au natural.” If you never run plugged in, see what all the fuss is and give it a try.
Regardless of what you’re used to, the tracks at MP3Running.com will be something new to you. Read more to check out why!