Six Feet Under

It's a sad day in running for me. A faithful companion has passed away. We started this running journey together over two years ago. It has been there for me in my highs of PR and my lows of 20 mile crappy runs. My earbuds have died.

I knew something was wrong last Saturday when I was finishing my 20 mile run. I noticed at mile 10 that I was having to turn the volume up really high to get enough sound. By mile 15 only one earbud was working. I actually thought maybe this was a good thing. After all, if I only have one working then I can still hear traffic or people commenting on my superior form saying hi when I pass them on the road. I could become a more polite runner because I could respond in kind.

This morning though, it all changed. I got about 1/4 mile from my house when the sound was cutting in and out. I thought maybe my McGyver fix from long ago was finally catching up with me and I had erased all my songs. I stopped to look it over and the display readout was fine, I could move through songs ok and it looked like they were playing fine. I had this sinking feeling that maybe my faithful blue earbuds had moved on to that great big iPod in the sky.

I finished my easy 4 miles, but it wasn't top form because I was preoccupied with the thoughts of whether the earbuds were truly dead or maybe they also needed a McGyver treatment to them and also thinking about what I could have done different to prevent this. I came home and plugged the iPod into the stereo and it played fine. I was stunned into silence for a moment then I told my daughter that my earbuds had stopped working. Her response? "Great Dad, now you can go get new ones for both of us because mine stopped working two days after I got them."

This younger generation has no respect.