The other voices in my head

I've always had this going joke whenever I have one of those sanity-doubting moments -- I was just listening to the other voices in my head.

So I was kind of wondering about something today thinking about a couple things. My wife was doing her long day on Saturday, and she had texted me to say that without her iPod, she would have turned around out of boredom. And today I was talking with a friend at work, and he was talking about getting into a groove listening to Rush on his long runs, pretending he's Neil Peart wailing away on air drums.

I haven't listened to music when running or riding since I tried it once in college coming back from an injury. I don't like it. I don't feel a need dissociate from the activity. And it would seem that's pretty... not normal. At least not the majority.

During yesterday's long run out on the trails (REAL trails!), I revelled in the silence. Not traffic noise, no sounds of construction, none of the average undustrial background chatter, not even the sound of my footfalls on the soft dirt. And no music other than what was going on in my body.

What is it that divides us into the two groups of plugged-in vs. electronics-less? What makes some want or need to block out the sensations of a run or ride, and others tune in completely to the moment?

I remember when I started doing yoga some years ago, how "in the moment" I felt. I remember years before that, when bike racing, talking with team mates before a race, saying "embrace the pain, it tells you you're alive". So maybe I've always had this tendency. Being in the moment, Tuning in to what was going on in my body. Kind of like a running full-physical diagnostic.

So I guess in some ways you could say I'm plugged in to myself. To the voices in my head. And the other voices in my head.

I do carry my cell phone on some runs, mostly the ones I do from home, just in case. That's as outside-plugged-in as I want to be.