Notes from the trail 01.28.26: Headphones are ok

Three things I learned during my past few long runs.

1. Bikers need to use bells when passing on trails. I’ve been shocked how few use them since moving from the UK, a land where people know how to cycle in concert with pedestrians and cars (there isn’t much room, they have too!). However, when you are wearing headphones as a pedestrian you also need to be much more mindful of what’s around you, and a lot of people are totally oblivious. Maybe bikers don’t use bells because everyone has headphones in anyway? Anyway, I couldn’t hear a damn thing with my headphones on, and it lessened my awareness (caring?) about what was going on around me to a fault. The fact that I run almost entirely on a trail with very few road crossings makes it ok though. In a city/busy area no way.
2. DJ Shadow rules for long runs. I listened to the 28 minute set included on this KEXP run cast twice. The full set from 2024 is incredible.
3. I was against running with headphones for a long time, but I’m starting to relax my stance now (inspired by Run the Song). Having music along with me (especially on long runs) is pretty enjoyable.

My ramp up for a marathon continues. Week 5 is this week (~14-15 miler planned) and then week 6 is next week (~15-16 miler) which will probably be about as long as I’ll go before tampering slowly down again to a 10-12 miler before the race (week 10).

One foot in front of the other.