I ran one race last year (a HM) with my headphones. I couldn't tell you a single song that played 10 minutes after the race. During a training run, sure I'll kick back and enjoy the music a bit at times. However, during races, it's just extra weight, dangling cords, and not something I'm benefitting from. Maybe some people "race" differently than me...but I'm going to give it pretty much everything I have, which means focusing very intently and not worrying about whether Bon Jovi singing Dead or Alive at mile 10. 

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Originally posted by LeftRightRepeat:

   Just to clarify, it's not the promoters. The USATF, the sanctioning body for most running races in the US, this year revised rule 144.3(b) to read: "The visible possession or use by athletes of video or audio cassette recorders or players, TV's, CD or DVD players, radio transmitters or receivers, mobile phones, computers, or any similar devices in the competition area shall not be permitted."

USAT's rules 5.8 (bike) and 6.3 (run) are similar: "Any participants who any time uses, wears or carries a headset, radio, headphones, personal audio device, or any other item described in Section 3.4(i) shall be assessed a variable time penalty."

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That's pretty clear. So, where does this RRCA fit in the whole picture of sanctioned road races? When I was running a lot in the late 1980's it was pretty rare for a road event to require TAC membership and Columbus OH marathon was one of the few to require this, to some consternation.

Is RRCA defunct or do I not understand their role?

I'm all for santioning bodies, our state championship cyclocross race just got cancelled an hour ago by the cycling santioning body due to non-payment of the permit fee, which is just fine with me.  I'm glad someone is making sure there is insurance and proper controls in place before the gun goes off.

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Originally posted by triandstopme:
[B (Personally, I think the most effective way to penalize folks for this would be to confiscate the MP3 players like nail clippers at the airport...:[/B]

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That's the kind of thinking which has the laws all around us quite "in-effective"

The most effective way would be to not have the devices show up.

This isn't about the fairness of crime and punishment. It's about safety and then selfishly for me, as a race worker, not having to work harder because of the twits.

If you make any punishment "fit" the crime (infraction) then you just set up a situation where way too many people decide they don't mind the "price"

Why should races compromise here to only stop some of the use? The use would creep back as does every other infraction on the planet that isn't cover with a stiff enough price. Or am I the only one on the planet who observes the ineffectualness of systems the "fairness" folks blackmail those in charge into.

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Originally posted by imfl03:

Can some tell me WHY you can't race with them?

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It is possible that running with music very loud could cause a problem in a race.  I think race organizers don't want to have to deal with that possibility (however small it may be) and just ban them.  There is also the issue of insurance in a race.  It's possible that the insurers are mandating no headphones.  Lastly, I believe it gives some people an advantage over others.  Race organizers want to level the playing field so no one has an unfair advantage.  This is similar to getting help from family and friends while on course - outside assistance it not allowed because it gives some racers an unfair advantage to those people who don't have anyone at the race to help them.

You cannot correlate running with music and driving with music. In many places, driving with headphones is not legal. Also, driving with music so loud that you cannot hear other cars or emergency vehicles is illegal. Just because people do things like this, doesn't make it right.

In my opinion, if it's in the race rules, then you should follow it.  If you don't like the race rules, then put on your own race or lobby the organization to change the rules.  Ignoring the rules and doing your own thing because you don't agree with them is not right.

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Originally posted by imfl03:

Can some tell me WHY you can't race with them? Besides the "It's the rules." Cause I know nobody on this board ever made a rolling right turn or ran a red light or heaven forbid sped... Gasp.

Cars drive with the radio on so loud I can hear it in my car or on my bike cruising down the highway, and it may a be a miracle, but I don't see them piled up along the roadside.

Let's be real here. The only danger someone has wearing a headphone is they may not hear the idiot weaving through the crowd to gain 3 seconds at the end of a 5 hour thon.

Sheldon

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Yeah, I can tell you why we can't race with them. Like with so many other things, someone with the authority to push their agenda on us did. Joe Schmoe, like me, doesn't have the time, the connections, or the money to lobby against an inane rule like this, so we bend over and take it. Why? Because we love the sport(s) and we begrudgingly follow the rules.

Do I agree with the headphone rules, no. Basically, I think that if I can't wear my phones then the deaf and/or blind shouldn't be allowed to participate. They're just as much of a hazard, if not more so, than my headphone-wearing self. But unlike the powerful rule makers, I don't think that everything under the sun has to be legislated. I just watch out for the dangers and make corrections as needed.

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"Accept the challenges, so that you may feel the exhilaration of victory."
- General George S. Patton

Dad and Boy[/URL" target="_blank">

Reading the attitudes & ignorance of runners here just reaffirms why I would never want to be a race director.

One volunteer position I would get great pleasure from would be to snap photos of headphoners along the course, get their bib numbers, and omit their data from the final results. When they ask how come there names were not in the results just tell them they were disqualified for wearing headphones, show them the snap shot and the rule stating clearly they are not allowed. No need to pull them off the course, let them finish their marathon and tell them they were DQ'd afterwards.

No point in explaining the obvious to people who won't listen as to why they are not allowed, it has been done 86 bajillion times on Cool Running, and should be common sense.

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Originally posted by dg12:

Make an effort to do without the mp3 and absorb the whole experience, this coming from a non tree hugger.

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Huh? Are you saying that tree huggers take off their mp3 players when running? Brilliant insight, sir.


For me, it depends. Usually do not race with the iPod, too much to see, too much going on - and if they are against the rules, I leave it at home, period. However, if I've got a 20 mile training run coming up, over the same course I've run a hundred times before, I'm gonna want the iPod. I can do it without it, but what's the purpose.

And though I haven't seen it in this edition of "To mp3 or not to mp3," it drives me crazy when the "purists" say "you should listen to your body." I don't care if I've got Mozart playing at a fairly low level or I'm cranking the Pantera, I don't need my ears to "listen to my body." OK, end of pointless rant.

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Originally posted by flatline:

I think that the people coming on this thread and telling everyone how running without music is so much better must have been listening to the wrong music in the first place.

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Uh, right.

I think the issue is that if you depend on music to get you through a long run/race, perhaps it's time to break that habit - especially since it appears as though it is becoming more common to see headphones bannned. Why not learn to enjoy your run without them, as opposed to worrying about how you are going to make it through a race without music?

Not purist, just seems like common sense.