Being from the South, I usually wave at everybody. The exception is of course the Rednecks who yell "Run Forrest, Run!" They get the finger. The worst place I've seen is Cape Cod. No one even acknowledges your existance and everyone looks pissed off.
Ha-ha, Pete...I guess encountering bowhunters as I have on the trails is only funny at a historical distance. Bowhunter, below, has it partially right. During the 2 weeks of firearm season, mid-Nov til Dec 1, I stay off the trails. I had a brief, hot conversation w/a deer hunter and concluded being right was secondary to safety.
Have come upon a guy sitting, quietly in the woods w/a bow. That was unnerving. This wasn't during that mid-Nov time.
Slim, we are careful about giving the finger or even showing anger in parts of Calilfornia because you are likely to get shot or run down.
I was in Italy 3 weeks ago. I went out for a run and I waved/acknolwedged another runner. He did the same. It was like business as usual. It reminded me of the Nike commercial with the world falling apart around it.
Very comforting.
I usually wave, say "hi" or otherwise acknowledge other runners with a high rate of return greetings. We live less than a block from a well-used trail and there are many folks I recognize from just being on the same schedule.
Along the same lines, what do you do/say when coming upon another runner or walker from behind? Sometimes I've announced my arrival with "on your left", only to have the overtaken person overreact and jump out of their skin - usually to their LEFT. I've also not said anything, tried shuffling my feet and clearing my throat, or even try to be as quiet as possible, and get the identical reaction.
gotta say hi when passing a runner, I mean that's all we have in this crazy world
and of course one must love the occasional (hot) female jogger.
I live and run in friendly suburban Connecticut. Whether on a trail or the roads, I give fellow runners the best treatment: wave and say "Hi". to the cyclists I just wave. to the walkers I may nod. that's the order of my food chain.
Back east I always said hey..Out here in Cali..rarely..usually just a nod
in colorado i notice that people are friendly for the most part. cyclists can be overly nice, but the majority of them ignore me, except to give me a heart attack yelling out "on your left." i always wave at other runners, and don't get too high a response rate. but if you say "hi, good morning" you'll get some kind of grunt back. i usually only wave, way to out of breath for talking.
in michigan, there weren't that many runners out, and almost no cyclists at all. they were generally friendly.
in los angelos, i noticed that people don't give thank you waves while driving at all. we let someone in, no thank you wave. then someone let us in, we gave them a wave, they looked at us like we were insane.
Ha ha, when you mentioned the bow hunters that reminded me of a pretty funny story.
Some girl was riding her horse in a field on her parents property that was adjacent to the woods when all of the sudden, BAM! some hunter in the woods shoots her horse out from under her! She wasn't hurt, but the horse was. Not sure how you mistake a horse for a deer, but i thought it was a pretty crazy story. Can't remember the details like location and such, but i remember hearing in and i was like ha, wow! thats just amazing.
Nobody waves in London when they run - except if they are not from london - I always wave at other runners whether they be sub 28 10km guys or sub 60 10km guys (excpet when someone is wearing a walkman - whats all that about?)
My exact words after climbing a very steep, long hill w/loose dirt, tree roots, badly positioned stones and finding some other riders at the top resting on the Potowatomi trail in SE MI: "Damn, that was hard." And while sucking air noticed a guy wearing the same shoes as me, "Must be the shoes," as I raced off.