Freshness Big Year: Jog with headphones?

I’ve never run with headphones. Terrified that I’m careless and clumsy as I am, let alone without any sound input from the outside world. Author Peter Sagal, in this delightfully written NYT article, “The case against running with headphones,” recalls a friend who uses headphones because he “can’t spend that much time alone in my head.” It occurs to me that one reason I might use sports earbuds is because my inner dialogue while running is all fretting about making the end distance. No amount of Headspace this year has fixed up that issue. If I distracted myself with music, would I improve?