race officials asking runners not to use ear gear?

[echo]

I know a lot of you ladies do races,and since I only do the occasional race this is not somthing I have seen before.
Have you ever been asked not to listen to music while racing?
I am wondering how normal this is.
I am signing up for a ten mile race and am not sure I can really do it without my music........it is such a big part of my training.
On the sign up sheet is says that runners are kindly requested to 'consider' running without ear gear........
what would you do?comply or just do what you want?

[Wines Not Whines]

A lot of races say they encourage runners not to listen to music, but they don't prohibit it. It's for safety reasons, because they want to make sure runners can hear what's going on around them. It sounds like that's the situation with your race. If you're worried about running without music, I would take your music with you, but don't listen to it right away. See if you can run at least the first half of the race without it. You may surprise yourself and not need it at all! If you do plug in, keep the volume low so you can still hear other things around you.

I'm running a 10-mile race this weekend that prohibits all headphones/music. So I won't take my iPod at all.

[echo]

Thanks for the perspective.I am a rule follower,but will be pissed if I leave my music home,only to get there and see everyone else is ignorning the request.

[CallingAllAngels]

Oct 9, 2015 5:52:58 GMT -5 echo said:

Thanks for the perspective.I am a rule follower,but will be pissed if I leave my music home,only to get there and see everyone else is ignorning the request.

I'm a rule follower too and it makes me nuts to see people with music when we are asked not to use it. I still follow the rules though. I actually stopped training with music because so many races (especially triathlons) forbid it.

[blndsnbrdr]

Another option -- if you do use your music, just use one ear bud.

I used to run with music all the time, now I never use it. And I will say, I do appreciate the runners who use only one ear bud, keeps them from cutting me off or completely ignoring my requests to pass on the trails. I'm also friendlier to one or no earbud wearing runners just because I know they can hear me when I say "hello" and "good job".

[foundmylazybum]

No. I have never been told to take off my earphones by an official. In your case I would not worry about it.

People assume you can't hear them when you have headphones in but that's not necessarily true. Also it's not a requirement to respond to good jobs and hellos while running.

[arch01]

I don't run with music anymore-but with "kindly consider", I'd run with it. If it was ear buds forbidden, I'd suck it up and run without.

[cinco]

With that wording, I think you are okay to use it. Turn the volume down a little. There are races here that will say it is forbidden, and I am a rule follower there. Some races will DQ you from $ prizes if you have them on, but they always make that very clear (no kind recommendations ) I've seen two races where they let the runner finish, and then not give them prize $. One was a small local race with an open to traffic course, the other was a mid sized (5000 runners) closed course.

[sadlebred]

Bicycle races (USA Cycling sanctioned and most local races) strictly forbid it for safety reasons. I've seen riders (usually Cat. 4/5 or beginners) disqualified for listening to music.

For bicycling, you should never, ever listen to music when riding in a group.

[mrshandy]

If you want to run with them, I would say you probably could and others will as well. "Kindly consider" is just asking nicely, not banning them.

Some races ban them and I would definitely comply with that.

Most people think they can't run without music (I was one of them), but you know you adapt. I remember one of the first times, I went out for 9 miles and I discovered my iPod was dead. I didn't have time to wait around for it to charge and I had to go. So I went and survived.

Now, I'm fine with or without music. I ran my marathon last year with no music. It was a low-key race so not a lot of crowd energy. But I pushed through, even though I had headphones in my fuel belt, I had no desire to break my momentum and try to get them going.

[cinco]

Oct 9, 2015 7:40:00 GMT -5 sadlebred said:

Bicycle races (USA Cycling sanctioned and most local races) strictly forbid it for safety reasons. I've seen riders (usually Cat. 4/5 or beginners) disqualified for listening to music.

For bicycling, you should never, ever listen to music when riding in a group.

I can't fathom wearing earphones when bicycling! I'm surprised to hear people do it.

[katandkevin]

You can't wear headphones at all during triathlons, so I have gotten used to not having music. It isn't that bad.

[gt7301b]

I'd try running shorter distances without headphones. I admit that I used to be a complete headphone addict, but I am working on weaning myself from my addiction. I can now run 5-10ks without headphones pretty easily, but still have a hard time running without them on my longer runs.

[tacosforlife]

Oct 9, 2015 7:41:47 GMT -5 cinco said:

Oct 9, 2015 7:40:00 GMT -5 sadlebred said:

Bicycle races (USA Cycling sanctioned and most local races) strictly forbid it for safety reasons. I've seen riders (usually Cat. 4/5 or beginners) disqualified for listening to music.

For bicycling, you should never, ever listen to music when riding in a group.

I can't fathom wearing earphones when bicycling! I'm surprised to hear people do it.

People who cycle for transportation do it ALL THE TIME. It drives me batty. But then, I'm the one who yells "DICK MOVE!" or "THERE'S A STOP SIGN!" when cyclists blow through lights or stop signs when I'm walking. (And lest anyone think I'm picking on cyclists, I've almost been hit by a car - well, actually one large pickup and two SUVs - three times this week when people blew through red lights. So I hate everyone. LOL.)

Not that this has anything to do with the OP...

[luckystar2]

I think with the wording there will still be plenty of people wearing them. Most of the races I sign up have a disclaimer you sign off on when registering about headsets not being used, but it's definitely not followed. I know for small races nobody usually cares but I wasn't sure for my half since it was a big race. They also had the disclaimer and their website said something about headphones (it wasn't strongly worded though). I looked back at pics from the previous year and tons of people had headphones in so I was pretty confident it would be ok. I had mine and yep tons of other people did. I figured that if somebody tells me I can't wear them I will just take them off. I certainly wouldn't leave at home just put in pocket.

I will say I always listen to music but for my half I actually could see not using it. I had them turned down really low for almost the whole way.

[Susie]

Oct 9, 2015 7:45:25 GMT -5 katandkevin said:

You can't wear headphones at all during triathlons, so I have gotten used to not having music. It isn't that bad.

Me too.  I was worried about running 13.1 without music in my first HIM, but it really isn't bad.

In your case, OP, I might bring the iPod but not start listening to it until the crowd thins out a bit after the start.  That seems to be when the majority of the jostling is in most races.

[shorewife]

Most races by me require you to remove headphones to cross the finish line. I guess there was a bad accident at a finish line a few years ago with someone who couldn't hear because of their headphones, so now you will be DQ-ed if you finish a race wearing them but they are not prohibited during.

[echo]

Thanks for the input ladies.

[al320]

I once ran a race with an open course. Some of the runners were running in the middle of the road. A truck was coming, everyone shouted "truck!" Everyone moved over for the truck. Except for two people who had headphones in, who continued to run in the middle of the road, nearly getting hit by the truck, until it blew its crazy loud truck horn right at them and scared them.

So two problems there. Well, three, because to someones point, i suppose not everyone has their music up so loud they cant hear. But i know i run past plenty of people that i can hear, clearly, what theyre listening to.

Fwiw, i hate getting stuck behind people who slow down or stop to fiddle with their music playing device.

[mrs.jacinthe]

al320 has a good point - if it's an open course, don't wear your headphones. Or at least, only wear one so that you're more aware of your surroundings. Likewise with technical/single track trail running - you need to be able to hear for safety and courtesy reasons.

Honestly, while I liked running with music, as a swimmer, I've gotten used to being alone with my thoughts and I really enjoy it. It's great to just let your mind wander and see where it ends up.

[turboteal]

Another option, which is what I do, is to just run with your phone playing the music out of its regular speakers, no headphones attached. You can hear everything going on around you, and you can hear your music. I've never had anyone else on the path/in the race complain about hearing my music, usually nobody is running right next to me for the entire race anyways. In fact, I have had other racers laugh and sing along with some of my music (specifically, "Call Me Maybe").

[wawa]

Oct 9, 2015 15:01:52 GMT -5 turboteal said:

Another option, which is what I do, is to just run with your phone playing the music out of its regular speakers, no headphones attached. You can hear everything going on around you, and you can hear your music. I've never had anyone else on the path/in the race complain about hearing my music, usually nobody is running right next to me for the entire race anyways. In fact, I have had other racers laugh and sing along with some of my music (specifically, "Call Me Maybe").

As somebody who doesn't run with music because I can't stand headphones, I actually LOVE when people at races have music I can hear. 

[Deleted]

Oct 9, 2015 7:18:06 GMT -5 arch01 said:

I don't run with music anymore-but with "kindly consider", I'd run with it. If it was ear buds forbidden, I'd suck it up and run without.

This.
If it is forbidden - I don't runwith ear buds.
If it is encouraged not to - I do.

Better yet, I talk someone into running a race with me and chat to them.
Once, I also just played music out the speaker when the field had spread out so much that I was running on my own anyway. No rule against that.

[al320]

Oct 9, 2015 15:05:47 GMT -5 wawa said:

Oct 9, 2015 15:01:52 GMT -5 turboteal said:

Another option, which is what I do, is to just run with your phone playing the music out of its regular speakers, no headphones attached. You can hear everything going on around you, and you can hear your music. I've never had anyone else on the path/in the race complain about hearing my music, usually nobody is running right next to me for the entire race anyways. In fact, I have had other racers laugh and sing along with some of my music (specifically, "Call Me Maybe").

As somebody who doesn't run with music because I can't stand headphones, I actually LOVE when people at races have music I can hear. 

Ha! I hate that. A lot. Different strokes...

[trigal]

I've never worn headphones while running. Totally against the rules in triathlons (DQ). I've also never been heard in running races when people are wearing them, which is both annoying and unsafe. You don't NEED music to run. You WANT music. Big difference. Start training without it and you'll be fine.