Running "Music"

I can listen to music on my 3 mile, 4 mile and even 5 mile runs.  But I've found that after about 45 minutes of listening to music, I get exceptionally bored.  That's usually about the time that Pandora kicks me off because I've hit "Next Song" too many times.  They pleasantly suggest that if I dislike the songs that they are choosing so much, then maybe I should make a new channel.  But the bottom line is that after 45 minutes, I'm antsy and bored.  EVERY song seems too slow, too fast, too sappy, too serious or too musical.

But fear not!  I have found a solution!!  PODCASTS.  They are AMAZING.  Here are my favorites:

Radio Lab:  http://www.radiolab.org/
These are hour-long PodCasts that address some scientific-ish topic by telling a bunch of stories, discussing research and generally hypothesizing about it.  The topics are often big and vague- but that allows them to draw out interesting themes from a wide range of related stories.  My favorite one was called "Limits",  I also liked "Falling" and "Words".  The next one is "Symmetry".

Stuff You Missed In History Class  http://www.howstuffworks.com/hsw-podcast.htm
Today I learned about Winston Churchill's pet platypus.  And about the contrasting military strategies of the Persians and Athenians at the Battle of Marathon, and the role of the runner who carried the news 26.2 miles back to Athens and subsequently dropped dead (a very fitting marathon-training topic!).  These PodCasts are shorter than RadioLab (15-20 minutes) which is good for my short attention span. I'm planning on getting at least a few episodes from each of the PodCasts on the "How Stuff Works" website.  They've got one called "Stuff You Should Know".  I just can't argue with that!!  There's probably lots of stuff that I should know (but currently don't).

Here's the real reason that I love PodCasts: they are the only thing that I've found that makes me go- "O wow!  I've already run 9 miles?!  I was just so enthralled with Queen Elizabeth's childhood stories that I forgot I was running...."