Tim's Genius Hour Blog

 My genius hour project taught me that I'm not the only one who feels passionately about the connections between music and running.  There are countless articles and online conversations on the topic, and the effect music has on running performance differs from one person to the next.  That said, it appears that the majority of people feel music has a positive influence on their running and on their running performance specifically.  What I enjoyed most was that doing a Genius Hour project allowed me to work on a topic that was interesting and meaningful to me.  Being able to go out for run, which is one of my favorite activities, and having it be a part of my research was a joy!  I also really like making the video component.  It was the most time consuming, but also a skill that I really wanted to begin to work at, and this forced me to do so. My most significant challenge came about in my running experiments.  For me to personally benefit from running, I need it to help me reach

 For my research this week, I considered a new question:  could I possibly use methods other than music to get a similar performance boost? Specifically, it occurred to me that running while engaged in a lively conversation might also proved the same benefits as music, by distracting me from perceived effort etc. Typically I almost always run alone, and I much prefer it this way.  I prefer to run on my own for many reasons:  I like to set my own pace and not be tied to others, I like to get lost in my thoughts, I want to be able to alter the distance of my run during the activity (go further if I'm feeling good, cut it short if I'm tired).  This also means I almost never talk while I'm running, and have very little experience with it. My wife on the other hand loves to run with people, and even helps lead a popular run group in Toronto.  I know that she feels she benefits from chatting with others while running, and that it helps pass the time and get her into a steady flow