‘Born to Run': What heart-pumping tunes inspire Sun readers ahead of the Baltimore Running Festival

Distance running tests runners mentally as much as physically, and, without music, many say, they’d never pass. The tunes help them tune out their labored breathing, their aching bodies, or the lousy weather.

“I have run without headphones — I just don’t always have as good a race,” says Hallie Brokowsky, an Ellicott City resident and seasoned long-distance runner who’s participating in the half-marathon in Saturday’s Baltimore Running Festival.

For others, music is more than just a distraction. A favorite song transports them to their high school days, and their feet feel lighter. A rhythmic song cues their steps, and their stride is steadier. The ear bones, it seems, are connected to the leg bones.

[ Don't see the songlist? View it and hear samples here. ]

Like the one we’ve assembled here of some Baltimore runners’ favorite running songs, playlists are as diverse as the reasons for curating them. Some athletes seek quick, straightforward tempos that set the pace of their run (think “High Hopes” by Panic! At The Disco or Rihanna’s “Disturbia”) while others prefer to move to slower, less predictable beats that keep their minds occupied through the ups and downs of a course (like "Run Like An Antelope” by Phish or “Echo” by Nas and Swizz Beatz).

For the record, Baltimore Running Festival directors discourage participants from wearing headphones on race day. Keeping your ears attuned to any instructions from officials, signals from passing runners, and spectators’ cheers, they say, makes races safer and more enjoyable. Plenty of runners forego music anyway, even during training, preferring to focus on the task at hand as well as their surroundings.

Cockeysville resident Maggie Smith says she swore off headphones since a pair of incidents while exercising. In one, she says a group of young people shoved her off her bike and assaulted her. In the other, she says that while she was running someone sprang out of an alley holding a knife.

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“Having that happen was kind of crippling — it was devastating,” Smith, an avid runner and member of the military, says. “After that, I stopped wearing them. You can take in more of what’s happening.”

For those who do listen, does it really help? Sports performance and endurance experts say while research has shown potential benefits, music generally isn’t used among highly trained athletes.

Tim Herzog, a counselor who specializes in mental performance, says music can be used as an associative or dissociative technique, meaning it can either help runners pay more attention to the run or assist them in finding another outlet for their thoughts. If they do use music, elite runners tend to favor associative techniques over dissociative ones.

“It’s an individual decision. I’d want to know what do you hope to gain, and what do you potentially lose,” he says.

It’s an individual decision. I’d want to know what do you hope to gain, and what do you potentially lose.

—  Annapolis-based counselor Tim Herzog on running with headphones

Alyssa Morrison, an endurance coach based in Washington, D.C., says that while she normally defers to the advice of race directors, every recreational runner’s preference is valid. She says many of her clients use music.

“Some athletes use headphones because there is a lot of injury involved in running,” she says, adding that many clients download or curate playlists with songs timed to specific beats-per-minute cadences. “People are actually using it as a means to minimize risk for injury."

For those on the fence, Dave Gell, director of communications for Corrigan Sports Enterprises — the group that oversees the running festival — suggests a compromise: Wear an earpiece in one ear and keep the other ear open.