This year USA Track & Field, the national governing body for running, decided to ban the use of headphones and portable audio players at its official races. Jill Greer, a spokeswoman for the 
organization, explained to the NY Times' Juliet Macur that it's actually an insurance issue, with listening to music considered to be a hazard during a road race. Apparently, runners who can't listen to what's going on around them and heed to warnings from others pose a safety issue for everyone.
This shouldn't bother the "pure" runners, though, those that go into a zone and are tuned into every sense of their body during a race. In fact, many of them have praised the ban, claiming that wearing headphones would tune out a runner from the experience of a lifetime, like running in New York today.
However, many of the marathoners these days are recreational runners, not the elite, athletic in-the-zone types. For them, music helps set their pace and is often what gets them through the infamous 20 Mile Barrier, with a little Bruce Springstein or U2 giving them that needed extra push. Some of them have reportedly been using the iPod Shuffle which, besides being extremely lightweight, is also quite easy to conceal from race organizers.
Let's hope that all of today's New York City Marathon participants have a great race, whether it be music-aided or not, and that safety will not become an issue at all.
Source: NY Times
