Goodbye, headphones
After about 15 years of faithful service on my runs, I think my yellow Sony headphones have finally given out. These came with an ancient Walkman my parents got me for Christmas some time in high school and they’ve probably accompanied me on a thousand miles of running and come with me to the three continents I’ve visited. They aren’t the only headphones I’ve worn while running but they are the set I’ve come back to time and again. Like everything with running that I’ve started to appreciate this summer, there are a number of characteristics that go into creating a good set of headphones but mostly in terms of non-desirable characteristics you want to avoid. Good headphones don’t move around too much. Screwing around with headphones to put them back in your ear or adjusting them because the sound is really uneven is a pain. They also shouldn’t completely insulate you from external noises but, if you’re stoopid like me, you definitely want them to get loud. And you don’t want an absurdly long cord. I used to carry my walkman (then various MP3 players) in my right hand and could wrap the cord around my hand so there was just enough slack for my running motion. Now I can wrap it around my armband holster thingy (which is way better because it lets me shadowbox like Rocky), but still the cord length is just right. Now I need a new pair. I’ve been eying a pair I read about on the cooltools blog but maybe I’ll just find another pair like what I’d had.