Rockin' the long run

I've always been stunned to see people running while toting their cell phones and even more surprised to see runners talking on their phones during a marathon. Particularly for marathons, what works for me is going with no radio or any other detraction. It's just me, the road and a goal.

Today, I ran 20.1 miles with my cell phone in tow. But there's a very good reason.

I've never owned an iPod or any sort of portable device to play MP3 copies of music. But in October, we dumped our land line and all four members of our family got new phones. My older son and I both got the Samsung Intensity (left).

I didn't think much about being able to play music on the phone until I kept seeing Verizon Wireless ads promoting that the Intensity also is an MP3 player.

We bought 4GB micro SD memory cards that allow me to download MP3s to that card from the computer using a card reader. I then keep that memory card in my phone and that gives me a lot of space to store music. I bought a small converter cord that allows me to plug my headphones into it.

I know I'm way behind on this technology, I just wish I had discovered it long ago ... like before I threw out all of my 8-track tapes and my 8-track tape player. (Yes, it does sound like I'm about to turn 50, doesn't it?) I had some terrific albums on 8-track that all are gone.

I didn't have many albums on CD, but converted those to MP3s (yes, I know you're supposed to call it "ripping"). I added a few MP3 downloads and I now have a decent start to a good musical collection.

So far, I've got 11 albums: AC/DC, Back In Black; The B-52's, Time Capsule; The Cars, Complete Greatest Hits; Pink Floyd, Dark Side of the Moon; Pink Floyd, The Wall (I actually still have the vinyl copy of that but figured a recording off of that would be really poor. It includes a note on the cover to a college roommate from a girl who, for some reason, couldn't find anything else to write on); Led Zeppelin II; Led Zeppelin IV; The Best of James Taylor; and The Who, Then And Now. I also found one MP3 file for a Fabulous Knobs song (great N.C. band during the 1980s)

Definitely need to add some Beatles stuff, but it's a good start.

I usually listen to the radio when I run, mostly sports talk, but some music stations and some political talk. During my 20.1 mile run training for the March 21 Tobacco Road Marathon, which took 2 hours and 48 minutes (faster than any of my long runs training for October's Detroit Marathon), I listened to nothing but music from my phone.

Split	Time	Distance	Elevation Gain	Elevation Loss	Avg Speed	Max Speed	Calories
Summary	02:48:29	20.12	1,370	1,389	08:22	03:56	2,046
1	00:07:40	1.00	0	0	07:40	05:46	92
2	00:08:14	1.00	13	0	08:14	05:46	101
3	00:08:15	1.00	0	0	08:15	04:59	103
4	00:08:20	1.00	0	0	08:20	05:53	106
5	00:07:59	1.00	0	19	07:59	07:30	102
6	00:08:25	1.00	39	54	08:25	05:44	106
7	00:08:11	1.00	132	95	08:11	06:06	104
8	00:07:54	1.00	437	0	07:54	03:56	99
9	00:08:20	1.00	629	1,034	08:20	06:16	100
10	00:08:22	1.00	0	62	08:22	05:02	99
11	00:08:19	1.00	0	0	08:19	06:20	103
12	00:08:09	1.00	54	0	08:09	07:09	104
13	00:08:09	1.00	50	80	08:09	04:26	100
14	00:08:18	1.00	0	0	08:18	05:39	105
15	00:08:18	1.00	0	0	08:18	04:58	102
16	00:08:30	1.00	0	0	08:30	07:53	107
17	00:08:59	1.00	16	0	08:59	05:22	108
18	00:09:05	1.00	0	46	09:05	05:37	102
19	00:08:32	1.00	0	0	08:32	05:59	91
20	00:09:17	1.00	0	0	09:17	08:32	100
21	00:01:06	0.12	0	0	08:52	08:43	12

My phone fits snuggly into the side pocket of my RaceReady shorts (right). Because I didn't want to fool with it during my run, I just put it on "shuffle" and it randomly played  song after song from the 153 on my phone.

It made it easier, but created some really odd sequences. Going from AC/DC to James Taylor to Led Zeppelin is just a big contrasting. But it was nice not to have to worry about commercials, and the irritating amount of radio time spent on the NFL.

Best of all? The closest I came to hearing a reference to the Carolina-Duke game (and it wasn't very close) was hearing "Carolina In My Mind."