Lady Chatterley Over Lady Gaga

I came across an article today on listening to audio books while running. The author explains that he was "[t]ired of playlists that bisected my running workouts into four-minute parcels of blaring sound" and preferred the more evenly paced narration of audio books. Plus, it takes care of that tbr pile you are always stressing about.

"There is something perfect about the union of reading and running, your feet and breath beating out a regular rhythm that serves as gentle background to the reader’s voice. After two or three miles, the workday fades away (I usually run in the evenings) and my brain is washed over by a second wave of concentration, allowing it to drift along on the spoken word. Forty minutes later, I find myself running across the Manhattan Bridge, listening to A Tree Grows in Brooklyn."

It sounds interesting - I am always worried that anything less that 160 bpm will not be uptempo enough to steel my resolve, but there is nothing worse than coming across that sleepy acoustic song you forgot to delete from your iPod while in the last half of a run. Your concentration is broken; you have stop, skip to the next song - but not the very next song, because now that you are flat-flooted you have to find a song inspiring enough to get you back on your pace. I will have to try an audio book the next time I am off for a long run. Now my worry will be picking a book that is interesting, but not too interesting, or I may not stop running just to hear the end.