How often do you get the nod/wave?

not much acknowledgement in the bay area/sf proper. i came from one of the most friendly running/fitness towns ever (slo) and when i started running up here it was kind of freaky at first. i still wave/say "hi"/nod but rarely get the same in return. the people who do acknowledge back are truely happy to share a greeting with a fellow runner, though. -- kk

i only give the nod to people i deem as "real runners." i'm not going to give the nod to some princess out on a two mile jog in preparation for her 5:20 marathon. speed isn't necessarily the only requisite, though. older runners can get the nod. i even started giving the nod to a rather obese guy after i saw him out running (well, what he did probably didn't qualify but it was close) quite often.

i tend to get the nod or some other greeting when i'm outside of urban areas. my all-time most greetings came when i was running on some trails outside of york, england. every single person who i passed--whether runner or biker or walker--greeted me.

JoeRunner wrote:

the worst culprit is the slow female running w/ a walkman, too much make-up for a morning run, and probably running less than 2 miles.

You look like a killer. For weeks I ran solo ... not one response to my "good mornings" from women out for an early walk/run. Then one morning, I ran with a lady in my neighborhood ... everyone and her sister said "Hi" or "good morning". The next morning I ran solo ... I was back to being Jack the Ripper.

I hope you didn't log those miles ran with a female companion. They don't count.

I give/get the nod here in the ATL from people you can tell are putting in real work and not "out for a jog." Conversly, I openly laugh or shake my head at the "chicks-ahead, better start running again" walk-to-run guys. Those guys are awsome.

Can I count them if she was Ethiopian?

yup, I agree w/ the "real runner" thing ... I lived in the UK for 3 years and noticed that I got the nod there, primarily b/c the percentage of real runners is higher ... I just started giving the nod to a disabled dude I see walking every morning; he can barely walk, but he is busting his ass every morning by himself, pretty inspriring ...

in that case I'll give you 1 for every 2. Kinda like when you run and a girl bikes with you, 1 for 2.

I give a nod or wave to just about anyone that gets their butts out the door. I figure even if they aren't setting the road on fire they're doing more than 90% of the people out there.

I like to greet everyone just to see how they respond. About a month ago I was out on a run with my daughter who was riding her bike. I was amazed how many people didn't respond as we either passed them in either direction.

Sometiems when I'm out there just killing it, like 10 miles in 60 everyone will give me a nod but I'll ignore them. If it is a LSD it feels like I am giving more than recieving.

(10 in 60 is really good for me, don't laugh)

If they give me the nod or wave, then I stop and ask them their PRs. I only then wave or nod back if they meet the criteria. The criteria is as follows:

1) Mile PR of 4:35 or faster for men

2) Half marathon PR of 1:20 or faster for men

3) Marathon PR of 3:00 or faster for men

4) 5,000 PR of 16:00 or faster for men

5) If it's a woman, then I just need to know if she admits that the man in her life is the ruler in the house - if so, she gets the return nod or wave; if not, she gets the phone number for the nearest National Organization for Women office and a coupon for 5% off some Birkenstocks.

I like to give the nod, hi, or some variant to most people that'll look at me. Half the time people completely avoid eye contact. I could be running from some guy with a chainsaw, screaming my ass off and people would ignore it. My favorite though is on a treadmill at the gym, yes I do an occasional run on a treadmill, sorry guys. Regardless. I crank the stupid thing way up and people refuse to get on the ones next to me. It's great. Sometimes someone will, I'll try to strike up conversation, but it gets me nowhere. Although the do stare at my pace, distance, etc quite a bit.

I give a cheery hello to everyone I see! A smile, a nod, a wave, and a hearty "GOOD DAY TO YOU!" for all the brave souls who choose to exercise!

chuck d wrote:

i only give the nod to people i deem as "real runners." i'm not going to give the nod to some princess out on a two mile jog in preparation for her 5:20 marathon. speed isn't necessarily the only requisite, though. older runners can get the nod. i even started giving the nod to a rather obese guy after i saw him out running (well, what he did probably didn't qualify but it was close) quite often.

Yeah--Only "real runners" deserve the nod. Speed shouldn't be the criteria though. A guy/girl can put in tons of miles and just never be that fast. The real criteria should be temperature. If it's a nice spring day, and some college girl is out running in tight jogging pants and a sports bra, ignore her. She only does aerobics and this is her first (and probably her last run) for the year. If it's subzero with six inches of snow on the ground, anyone outdoors gets the nod. If it's pouring rain, a runner gets the nod. If you've seen them running before, they get the nod. Anyone, who you can tell is running to lose weight, or who is wearing a beer shirt automatically gets the nod.

The coolest nod/wave return I ever got turned into a fifteen minute conversation. A buddy and I were running the AT in Tennessee, and a hiker waved, nodded, and started talking to us. We stopped running and wound up talking to the guy for 15 min. It was a pretty cool experience to hear some of the adventures that he had had on his journey. I was also satisfying to give him some companionship, since he was doing the AT solo.

staminaboy wrote:

some college girl is out running in tight jogging pants and a sports bra, ignore her.

So what you're saying is, you're gay. Not that there's anything wrong with that of course.

The most amusing waves are from the beer belly parttimers who think that it waving to you they are somehow legit, like in some secret club of real runners. I typically snub these characters.

I run in van cortlandt park these days and in the spring, with the return of nice weather, there a lot of housewives out there trying to lose weight. Dominicans, blacks, you name it. All real friendly, they get a hello - never hurts to be friendly to folks without a chip on their shoulder.

I don't know about the rest of the UK, but I've been studying in London for about 6 months, and learned really quickly that people don't even make eye contact, let alone give the nod. I've since given up on trying, and am now no better than anyone else.

I used to say 'hey' or whatever..the I lived in Cali....but it seems to me as it has gotten more crowded people tend to be more to themselves..When I lived in San Diego I never said hello or rarely...there are just too many people running and they rarely spoke...Today I said 'HOW YA DOIN' as I ran past a guy ..I say that or "on your right" so we wont crash