People run for different reasons. For me, one of the reasons is that I can be alone with my music. I am not really able to do that at home. Of course, I can put on one of my favourite albums, but then two problems present themselves immediately. First of all, I am never able to listen to it properly, because with five little kids, there is always noise. Secondly, there is no-one in our house who shares my choice in music. When it comes to music from bands like Pink Floyd, Queen, The Stone Roses and The Killers I am a lone crusader and have to fight a wall of complaints to listen to them. The music of my favourite band Radiohead makes my husband want to jump off a bridge, which is also something I do not want. So, I do not often play my music, apart from when I am running.
My running ‘gadgets’
One morning my running thoughts took me to running gadgets and the lack of them in my life. I actually love gadgets, but I am also someone who will use them until they break instead of replacing them as soon as a newer version is out. So, for months I have been running with my 15+ year old 2nd generation iPod touch, which I bought second hand on EBay, somewhere in the noughties. And why not, it was working fine even if it meant I had to use iTunes to add and remove content. I found some earbuds somewhere which belonged to an old phone. It was them that made me realise I am in desperate need of modernisation.
How the … did we manage in the past?
My now old-fashioned music equipment was once part of the best. IPods were sought after and expensive and everyone used wired earbuds to listen to them. Now the buds fall out of my ears, the wire gets in the way and tangled up and the iPod is just not cutting it anymore. We accepted all of that in the past because there was no better alternative. Today it is just annoying, so during my run I made the decision to start moving my music to my phone and get some Bluetooth earbuds to go with it. It made sense and it was time.
Traveling through time
As I was exporting and importing my enormous music collection, I realised that I probably do not listen to the same music that most people listen to when they are exercising. I do not have many upbeat songs to motivate me, to push me towards new personal bests and to get me to run an extra kilometre, even if I do not want to. I choose my music because it means something to me. Most runners use a playlist and mine consists of all my favourite songs. There is not one song on it which does not remind me of a certain period, person or occasion, past and present. By listening to my playlist when running I go back and forth between different moments in my life, and I love it.
A trip down memory lane
A song of Loudon Wainwright III or Bowie reminds me of me and my late father, recording and sharing music very late at night. The songs of The Stone Roses and Shed Seven bring me back to my life in Scotland, when I actually lived in music heaven. There I also started going out to underground clubs and there are several house music classics on there, like Plastic Dreams and Don’t You Want Me. Radiohead, Kula Shaker, dEUS and Oasis make me think of my life in Zwolle when me and my friends went from concert to concert and literally lived and breathed music. Belle and Sebastian and Coldplay refer to my exchange year in Glasgow where I met students from all over Europe and developed long-lasting friendships.
Plenty of memories
Some songs remind me of former boyfriends, of my siblings, of beautiful (or painful) events and even just of a certain feeling or smell. My playlist grows continuously, because new songs are added as life goes on and I meet new people. I never remove a song, because it was placed there for a reason. Even if it is not what I want to listen to at that moment, it is still plays important part in my list. Luckily, skipping songs with modern music players is much easier than with the Fast Forward button we had to use on our Walkmen in the past.
Escapism
One thing I really miss here in Serbia is hanging out with people who love the same music as me. Until I came here, that was what bonded me and my friends together, what we were passionate about and what we loved sharing. In Scotland I would just go into a random pub for a pint and the music was always fantastic. Here there is also music, but it is not the music that excites me. And the people I met so far do not love the music that I love. So that is why running for me is the perfect way to keep my love for music alive and it has become one of the major motivators for me to go out. It gives me the chance to escape for an hour, be alone with my running thoughts and all the important people I met in my life so far (you know who you are).
I am not running alone
People often ask me if they can run with me, but I always refuse. By listening to my running playlist I bring the people I shared my passion for music with back to life. I am sharing that with them again, even if they are not there. I do not feel like I am running alone. Some of these people are still in my life, and with others I have parted ways. One thing is certain though: a bond created by music never disappears. We are reminded of it as we listen to the music that we love. It is time then, to buy those Bluetooth earbuds, get my ass into 2021 and make my escapes to my fantastic past a bit more modern.