USA Track and Field Bans Headphones at Sanctioned Marathons
By Rocky Thompson on April 4th, 2007
Citing participant safety, USA Track and Field recently banned racers from wearing headphones at any of their sanctioned events. This towering stupidity of this rule is worst for marathoners and half-marathon runners. I can’t imagine training for months on end with music and then leaving my Partytime Mix Tape at home on race day. I understand that race officials don’t want the people running in big herds to all wear headphones, but it’s just a stupid policy for people like me who only want to finish before the racecourse gets taken down.
I got an email the other day from Grandmas Marathon in Duluth that said they were going to uphold this rule this June. I’m in the middle on this one… Of the 5 marathons I’ve run 2 i did without headphones (Anchorage w/Team in Training) and Chicago (with friends). The other 3 I was on my own and would have been BORED out of my mind if it wasn’t for my 4 hour playlist. However, maybe I would have talked to some people had I not been wearing headphones.
Personally, I’d prefer that they ban people pushing running strollers. Oh, and fast people.
[...] This past weekend I ran Grandma’s Marathon in Duluth, Minn. It was fun, but marked by significant heat and no headphones. This combination gave me over four hours to chat to my fellow runners about their marathon experiences, the extreme heat and what people were wearing. I focused especially on the inordinate number of women in skirts. From the prAna Sugar Mini to the homemade-special, women covered the 26.2 miles with a bit more style than many races from my past. I used to think that skirt wearing runners were regulated to that one woman I work with, but after this weekend, I’m seriously considering joining the masses. Skirt-wearers experience less chafing; The skirts wick-moisture, and they look a lot cuter than shorts that ride up. By Kristin Piccirillo [...]