A hand-me-down ipod nano has been a welcome running companion for the last couple of years. The stock bud earphones that came with it have taken a bit of a beating what with sweat and whatever inclement weather, and the sound was becoming increasingly crackly and intermittently mono. So I bought some reasonably priced but appropriately sporting earphones –
– that would a) be somewhat more resistant to its operating environment/s and b) not joggle out of my ears.
My first discovery about in-ear phones – personal information alert – was that my left and right ear canals require different sized silicone sleeves. My second discovery was the initially disconcerting amount of external sound that they block out.
My journey of discovery didn’t stop there. The following are a few other things I’ve observed with the new ‘phones on my runs:
1. the percussion I’m hearing for the very first time on a track might actually be my own laboured breathing through the ‘phones;
2. the bass line that’s a little out of sync with a song is probably my heart hammering away; and
3. my apologies to startled and bemused pedestrians and runners on my loop – I sometimes forget the effectiveness of the silicone sleeves and am wheeze-singing along to Whitney‘s Queen of the Night rather than lip-syncing.
