{"id":664,"date":"2014-08-11T02:01:04","date_gmt":"2014-08-10T21:01:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/professorontherun.wordpress.com\/?p=664"},"modified":"2015-06-12T14:45:31","modified_gmt":"2015-06-12T20:45:31","slug":"the-hills-are-not-alive-with-the-sound-of-music","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/professorontherun.com\/?p=664","title":{"rendered":"The Hills are (not) Alive with the Sound of Music"},"content":{"rendered":"

Music is a big part of my life. I did a solo singer-songwriter thing for years (250+ horrible demos recorded), I’ve had radio shows, and I run music blog (http:\/\/desertislandmixtapes.com<\/a>). Fittingly, running has provided a great opportunity to put on new albums and listen to them front-to-back without much distraction. Music makes running a lot of fun.\u00a0 But, when things started warming up this year, and people began posting pictures of enormous rattlesnakes on the local trails, I rethought this practice. I saw 3 rattlers last year, and all three times they were right under foot. With narrow or overgrown trails, it is a bit unnerving to think that one might be at hand. Earbuds tucked in my ears mean that if one did start giving me a warning rattle, I wouldn’t hear it.<\/p>\n

So – I tuned the music off. In fact, I haven’t listened to music while trail-running since May or so.\u00a0 And you\u00a0 know what – it hasn’t been all that horrible. I\u00a0 have actually really enjoyed the silence at times. I can hear the rushing water of a creek I am approaching, the clicking of cicadas, chirping of birds, rustling of wind in the trees, myself breathing heavily. The silence has also given me time to myself and my thoughts. I am a historian and writer by profession and taking regular time to think through complex historical problems I am working on during the day has led to a number of epiphanies and breakthroughs. So, maybe running sans music isn’t all that bad.<\/p>\n

Well, until tonight. I ran up the Farmington Creek singletrack, up Farmington Canyon Road a bit, and then turned around to descend.\u00a0 Knowing that I would be looking at 5+ miles on a wide dirt road (no risk of not seeing a snake lurking about) I brought some tunes with. I put the ear buds in, hit play on Spoon’s new album They Want My Soul <\/em><\/a>(great, by the way!) and headed down the road. It was great. And I immediately realized how much I had missed it.<\/p>\n

(by the way – great run. 7 miles in 1:18:44 @ 11:17 min\/mile and with 1,514 ft. elevation gain<\/a>)<\/p>\n

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