the purists will hate me (many of my friends snub their nose at me), but after awhile I just can't be alone with my own thoughts anymore. I will break out the ipod when I'm suffering from boredom. I also have to vary my route A LOT or else I wind up in a (I've only gone *that* far, or I still have to go *so* much further) kind of dialogue. I, too, get bored after about 2.5 hours. Too bad for me I run so slowly an 18 mile run is nearly 4 hours long. I got lots of time to kill...