I Listen as I Run

Even before I write about what I intend to, I have to admit that a certain blogging protoccol has been nagging at me to blog about my perfect birthday celebration and the very thoughtful presents I received. Its almost like an invisible yoke that has been shadowing me for everyday since the 6th of May, and here I say 'shadowing' simply because this yoke has only nagged at, but has yet to compel me into actually writing about it. Maybe it is mere procrastination that has left the tons of related photographs unlabelled, collecting some virtual dust in my 'MOB' folder. But somehow, I believe the real reason is that my 20th birthday has been so perfect that I want to fossilize it in my intangible memories. For some reason, writing a chunk of text about it and pasting pictures all over seems to dilute the preciousness of those moments as it is now open for the world to access. Notice I did not say 'see'. I do not have a traffic counter on my blog but I am still sufficiently aware of the number of passers-by and readers.

Anyway, back to the topic. This was probably triggered by my recent birthday gift of 'What I talk about when I talk about running' by Murakami, as well the short and simple book 'Running Fit' which I borrowed to complement my Murakami read. I have recently taken an interest in sports, particularly running. This may be extremely difficult to believe considering I used to lead an almost sedentary lifestyle as a child (yes, I reversed time in this sense), and any attempt to walk around the reservoir then was often met with wide opened mouths and arched eyebrows.

So while I have yet to take part in a marathon, or a half-marathon at that, I must say that I do enjoy my sessions in the pool, at the gym, and most of all on the treadmill or in West Coast Park. True enough, when I run, I take myself to a different place. I actually spend more time, on the treadmill, allowing my mind to drift in and out of different realms. And this dreamer of a time has probably prevented me from improving my timing or distance as fast as I should have, but hey, I do not enjoy running so much as for a competition's sake, rather than just immersing myself in the adrenaline with each step.

Yet, despite my drifting, I seldom run 'alone'. Occasionally, when a partner comes along, then I switch to 'competitor' mode, or sometimes 'chaser', when my partner has the inevitable duty of letting me chase after him/her. Then again, I am not really 'alone' even without a partner, being accompanied by music. It is very rare that I run without music when I do not have a physical partner, as if the act of running is somehow synonymous with listening to music.

But music, when I run, does not function as a motivation mechanism of sorts. I know many runners blast rock, hip-hop, rap as they run just so they can match their pace to the beat. But I don't. In fact, I do have some 'slow' songs on my 'working out' playlist. I actually take a lot of time to select which part of my playlist to start, such that I can spend up to 1minute actually walking on the treadmill first as I sift through. Usually, when I select a song to start with, I will stick to that song for many other workout sessions. But, when I feel the need to change, I repeat the 1 minute treadmill routine again. Recently I have been starting with Scandal's 'Doll', then I occasionally skip 'Orion Once Again', but somehow I never miss Larc's 'Honey'. And I usually finish with 'Still Doll'.

I cannot pin a relation between the songs I listen to and my exercise routine. Try as I might, I have never been able to pin the crunches with 'Enter Sandman' or the different stages of incline with any particular song or artist. In fact, I do recall to repeating 'Still Doll' at least thrice, consecutively at that, as I ran.

Maybe its because my running time is the best time for me to listen to music. My driftings away from the rhythmic pounding somehow let me pay better attention to the voices, the different instrumental parts, the lyrics at that.

Oh how I love to listen as I run.