Me, Myself and I....Pod

Melophobia is the fear of music. I love music. I sing in the shower, in the car and I have been known to rap a little (ask the girls hoop team). For some reason, I refused to listen to music when I worked out. I thought it would distract me from thinking. Thinking about life, work, training, or anything in general. Without music, I could go to my "special place". Alone in my thoughts, no matter how little they were.

When I began training for my first marathon, I realized I didn't have enough thoughts to last more than an hour. After contemplating what I could do to keep my mind from telling my body to quit, I broke down and bought my first Ipod.

I knew I wanted my new walkman, er, I mean, Ipod, to be small and easy to use. After limited research I reluctantly decided on the Shuffle. Small is stature. Simple. Light. Easy on the eyes. And I can fill it with a bunch of stuff. Hey, that reminds me a little bit of myself. Ironic, huh?

Now, when you buy an Ipod, no one tells you how addicting it can become. Not necessarily to the device, rather all of the music you can put on the thing. I started with current music, you know, the popular stuff. But there is only so much of that out there.

The search was on. Lets see, what did I like in high school and college? I then started downloading songs:

• Metal: Guns 'n Roses, Metallica, the Cult, Cinderella, Van Halen
• Soft Pop: Merci Me, Cyndi Lauper, Allison Kraus, and Peter Gabrielle.
• Alternative: Good Charlotte, the Cure, the Cranberries, Gwen Stefanni.
• Rap/Hip Hop: 50 Cent, Usher, Timbaland, Eminem.
• Pop: Justin Timberlake, Madonna, Daughtry, David Gray

Before I knew it, I had downloaded over 100 songs on this little Ipod. So much for keeping the cost down and being conservative. The list of artists isn't even close to the range of songs I have on this Ipod but I am embarrassed to share more.

I must admit, however, it has helped me on my long and lonely training days. Being the anal retentive person I am, I always frowned at people who used their Ipod's on bike rides. Not safe and not cool. Well, I am now one of those people. Almost every bike ride includes my Ipod. I am safe on the bike, but I agree that this is not the best ideas. That said, you try riding 4 hours in the rain by yourself without anyone to talk to. At least I can sing with Madonna and JT.

The other thing I discovered is it gives me a legitimate reason to be anti-social. What I mean is this, I can put on my headphones, head to the weight room and lift without having to talk to anyone. Being the social butterfly that I am, this helped me get through my workouts quicker with additional motivation.

I am sure I could have made it through the hundreds of hours without the Shuffle. I am sure I would have been able to survive the workouts with listening to music, but I am happy it worked out for the best.

I would venture to say that most people who exercise have an Ipod or some sort of listening device. If so, what is on YOUR IPOD? I am always looking for new music, so don't be selfish and share!!

ps. My first Shuffle has officially died. I used it in the pool when I was water running a couple of weeks ago. After many attempts to bring my first little guy back, all efforts failed. I miss the little guy and he will always be my favorite. Sadly, I had to replace my Shuffle with the Nano (which I am still learning to use).