Well, that's just silly.

Do you walk with an iPod or other music player?

If you do, then you would probably miss it sorely when you participated in a walking event or race that bans iPods. Events sanctioned by USATF, which would include many large marathons and half marathons, ban headphones. The Portland Marathon proudly bucks this and declares itself MP3 Player Friendly (as well as walker-friendly) on the front page of its web site. What would happen if you wore headphones or earbuds? Our Guide to Running says that the Twin Cities Marathon disqualified anybody finishing with headphones and banned them from future participation.

Given that many (if not most) recreational joggers and walkers are out on the open streets wearing iPods and chatting into cell phones, this seems an over-reaction. Why have this rule? Safety is one reason - to ensure racers can hear course officials, other racers, traffic, etc.
But a second reason is to eliminate any unfair advantage of music pacing. For most walkers, who aren't looking to pick up a finish time award, this is moot. But music can be a huge motivator, especially when you are out on the marathon course for 6, 7, or 8 hours and all of the on-course bands stopped playing long before you got to their former location. "

An unfair music advantage???? Well, if that's the case then I'd like to ban everyone with longer legs than me, anybody who trained more hours than me, or anybody that got more rest the night before than I did. If you have better racing clothes, actually got to train on the course and if your running shoes are more expensive than mine, well forget it! Basically if you are not exactly like me than I feel like you have an unfair advantage, and that just won't do.

Someone needs to slap the USATF silly; what a bunch of whiny losers. Music pacing...geesh.