Experiments in Sound: Day I

Last night’s 5 mile run home was the first of my soundtrack-free week. I’m getting in training for running the North Dorset Village Marathon without an mp3 player as it’s run on country lanes open to traffic, so it would be sensible to ditch the headphones if I possibly can.

On Day I’s evidence, I’m not sure I can. I spent 42 minutes thinking about all the interesting things I could be listening to. I miss Our Mutual Friend. I miss ROCK. I must try to accentuate the positives:

Good Thing I:
I could hear birdsong .

Good Thing II:
I was more aware of my surroundings. Possibly less likely to get killed by a car.

Good Thing III:
My senses were heightened. I spied distant snatches of sunset between the rooftops, caught the pollen of early spring flowers on the air.

Of course the birdsong was drowned out by traffic for 99% of the run, and the pollen was mere punctuation in the paragraphs of exhaust fumes, bags of rubbish and dogshit. The most notable thing about running without a personal soundtrack is that the actual soundtrack was louder than ever. Upper Street at 5.30pm is not a quiet place.

Today I’ll be running from home and can hopefully find a calmer route. Perhaps that will give my brain space to adjust to the lack of entertainment. Stay tuned for updates.

In other news, I forgot to take my sports bra to work with me yesterday and had to run home in a regular one. In case you are wondering whether this might ever be a good idea, I’d like to confirm that it’s not.