u235

Well here's a big 'Fuck you' to USA Track and Field. They've decided that it's cheating to be listening to music when you run. Truth. So the fallout is that races are expected to ban, and enforce through confiscation, any and all iPods or MP3 players they can find. What's next? Will humming become an offense as well?

"I'm sorry but we're disqualifying you from the race because you were singing material from 'Annie the Musical'"?

True, I might be inclined to agree if the runner next to me started yodelling or doing a medley of Bette Middler songs, but dammit it might just inspire me to run faster just to get the hell away from them.

Still the point is, it's asinine to take away something that isn't a chemical or physical enhancement. Citing "safety" is bullshit. You're in a massive throng of people, more likely to be run over than miss some announcement. Besides there's tons of other noise as well. In addition, any runner without a headset does so by choice. No one is mandating that certain people use or don't use music as a motivational tool... until now.

So again, USA Track and Field, get off your fucking allmighty horses and get a grip instead. Runners aren't all that "aware" of their surroundings when they're in the zone. They're not on a fucking holiday jaunt, they're competing at the limit of their abilities. Focus on doping or physical forms of cheating, not on something as stupid and arbitrary as this, unless your point is to deliberately exclude the "average" runner.