Challenges + Music During Races?

Let's pick up where I left off: Saturday I scheduled another 8 miler for myself and I vowed that I would run with music or a friend to make it a little more bearable.  I ended up running with music and finished the 8 miler even though my pace per mile was 9 seconds slower than last week (9:39 as opposed to 9:30).  That kind of blows my mind because you would think with cooler temps and music I would be faster, but that was not the case.  However, I did have a hillier run than the first 8 miler so that's another factor to take into consideration. 

My running music genre of choice is rap or hip-hop, but on Saturday I was going with a techno theme.  My playlist (which was short hence I had to repeat a lot of songs) was mostly Skrillex and Steve Aoki.  Although I haven't heard much of either artist, my favorite Skrillex song to date is "Bangarang."



This song is seriously awesome to run to.  Check it out!

Sunday was another hockey game and my team remains undefeated!  My legs were very tired so sprinting back and forth as midfielders do was not easy.  However, being in a team situation meant that I had to work as hard as I could because we all depend on each other.  It's nice to do something different (like be on a field hockey team) than individual training all the time.

Monday was a much-needed rest day, and Tuesday I did my tempo run.  My legs were sore from the get go and my times reflected that as my fast miles were at least 10 seconds slower than normal.  Obviously I'm never going to have the same run twice.  That night I was in bed by 8:45 because I was so exhausted!

Yesterday I went to Betsy's Hot Yoga in an effort to try and get as many classes out of my Groupon as possible (I've now done three so it has paid for itself).  My hips have been very sore lately from the running (probably because they are tight?) so I went to a Vinyasa class to do some hip openers and to get an upper body workout.  I did Carrie's class, which I used to do regularly, but yesterday absolutely kicked my butt.  I was sweating within minutes, and I had to take multiple breaks over the 75 minutes.  I couldn't help but feel frustrated because my yoga practice is so far gone right now.  The strength is there and even more so than ever, the endurance is mainly there, but the flexibility is lacking.  Despite knowing that it would be a challenging class, I was mentally beating myself up because I wasn't one of the best in the room.  When I was younger I was not very competitive, and it's almost as if I've been trying to make up for it in the past several years.  Obviously I cannot be the best at everything, but when I am in a fitness or athletic situation and the adrenaline is pumping, there is that urge in the back of my mind to be #1.  Today I am extremely sore in my arms, chest, and shoulders....so much that I don't want to lift my arms over my head!

Anyway, so the half marathon is in nine days.  To run with music or not to run with music?  That is the question.  Nine times out of ten I do not run with music during races.  Actually, out of all of the races I've done in my life (30something last time I counted) I can only recall using music once and it was during a 10 miler.  I don't run with music because I want to be aware of other runners around me and being around so many people is motivating in itself.

Do you do races with music? Any good tunes you want to share?