I think it makes a difference how many other runners you see on your run. If you pass 100 runners on a busy trail, you'll be nodding and waving and saying hi the entire run. I usually acknowledge within my neighborhood, but not on popular trails. The best greetings are saved for miserable conditions like a cold rain, where you can't believe there is another idiot out running in the conditions.
Places where runners are friendly vs. places where runners are jerks?
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In Dallas, most are plugged in and oblivious. Even the unwired ones rarely say hello. This isn't a Eugene or Boulder and like a lot of middle-class suburban/exurban sprawls, people are self-oriented and don't identify as part of a fringe, edgy running community, as many of us did during the first running revolution. The spandexed iPod weilders around here must as well be cyclists. There is, of course, a hard-core running/racing community and we all say hello. Joe Henderson wrote about this obliviousness, even in Eugene.
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xenonscreamdude wrote:
I think it makes a difference how many other runners you see on your run. If you pass 100 runners on a busy trail, you'll be nodding and waving and saying hi the entire run. I usually acknowledge within my neighborhood, but not on popular trails. The best greetings are saved for miserable conditions like a cold rain, where you can't believe there is another idiot out running in the conditions.
I think this is mostly it. I used to run a lot in Central Park and it would look like some kind of performance art if everyone was saying hi to everyone else in the middle of a Saturday. But I've run there at night and would only see someone else occasionally and we would usually exchange greetings. -
all the places I've run, a single walker is much more likely to say hello than 2 people walking together.
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Boston area.
I raise a hand (wave) to all runners, walkers, etc. But I don't verbally say anything.
I'd say 80-90% say hi/wave back. Some people act like they don't see me and it pisses me off.
There is one guy I've been seeing on my morning loop every day with big headphones on walking. I wave and he just gives me a dirty look back. I've been thinking of flipping him off next time. -
hithere wrote:
xenonscreamdude wrote:
I think it makes a difference how many other runners you see on your run. If you pass 100 runners on a busy trail, you'll be nodding and waving and saying hi the entire run. I usually acknowledge within my neighborhood, but not on popular trails. The best greetings are saved for miserable conditions like a cold rain, where you can't believe there is another idiot out running in the conditions.
I think this is mostly it. I used to run a lot in Central Park and it would look like some kind of performance art if everyone was saying hi to everyone else in the middle of a Saturday. But I've run there at night and would only see someone else occasionally and we would usually exchange greetings.
I agree with this original post also. It brought to mind the time I ran Cherry blossom and was in the vicinity of Bill Rodgers (his later years, in fact I think the year he was coming off the broken leg) anyway, that poor dude spent his whole race being gracious waving and replying to all the Bill!, Hey Bill! and Hi Bill! greetings.
Also doubly agree on the crappy weather sentiment. -
xenonscreamdude wrote:
I think it makes a difference how many other runners you see on your run. If you pass 100 runners on a busy trail, you'll be nodding and waving and saying hi the entire run. I usually acknowledge within my neighborhood, but not on popular trails. The best greetings are saved for miserable conditions like a cold rain, where you can't believe there is another idiot out running in the conditions.
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I agree.
I run in a Santa Cruz County park and might see 10-20 runners, bikers or walkers while on a 10 mile run. (Fire road and trails) We all acknowledge each others existence with a nod, smile or hello.
If 'Team in Training,' with there hundred or so runners are there, I'll just respond to the ones who say hi first. Most of them do and I have to admit it gets a little tiresome, but what are you going to do?
If it's rainy and windy and you hear trees coming down, I'll just yell at other runners, "Are you crazy!" In those conditions you don't see bikers or walkers. -
greg hill wrote:
Boston area.
I raise a hand (wave) to all runners, walkers, etc. But I don't verbally say anything.
I'd say 80-90% say hi/wave back. Some people act like they don't see me and it pisses me off.
There is one guy I've been seeing on my morning loop every day with big headphones on walking. I wave and he just gives me a dirty look back. I've been thinking of flipping him off next time.
That high? Geez. I give a quick wave & nod on Boston-area running paths whenever traffic is light, and still receive just a 25% return. But while up in Maine last week the response rate was 100%. -
I never say hello to people. Why the heck am I going to go around greeting strangers just because we're both running, and why would you ever find that rude? Geez. If someone says hi to me, which is very rare (Boston), I'll nod back.
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greg hill wrote:
I'd say 80-90% say hi/wave back. Some people act like they don't see me and it pisses me off.
You know what's really rude? Demanding a strangers attention and getting pissed off at them when they don't give you the attention that they don't owe you in the first place. -
Ho Hum wrote:
I never say hello to people. Why the heck am I going to go around greeting strangers just because we're both running, and why would you ever find that rude? Geez. If someone says hi to me, which is very rare (Boston), I'll nod back.
Please re-read my post. Nowhere did I assert that a non-response is rude. -
I saw an article recently about how most women out running can be extremely self-conscious/self-aware in a situation where a man out running says hi or waves. They will tend to instinctively not make eye contact or acknowledge the other person just in case the other person is trying to pick up on them or worse. It's unfortunate, but it could explain unfriendly behavior seen in women out running.
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Change @ Park wrote:
Ho Hum wrote:
I never say hello to people. Why the heck am I going to go around greeting strangers just because we're both running, and why would you ever find that rude? Geez. If someone says hi to me, which is very rare (Boston), I'll nod back.
Please re-read my post. Nowhere did I assert that a non-response is rude.
Sorry, wasn't really responding to you. -
Runners who nod or say hi are attention whores.
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Carl Spackler wrote:
I saw an article recently about how most women out running can be extremely self-conscious/self-aware in a situation where a man out running says hi or waves. They will tend to instinctively not make eye contact or acknowledge the other person just in case the other person is trying to pick up on them or worse. It's unfortunate, but it could explain unfriendly behavior seen in women out running.
you think?! -
running jerk wrote:
Runners who nod or say hi are attention whores.
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So.. you're on a trail out in the middle of nowhere when you see another human being approaching and you think it's fine not to acknowledge their existence?
How much effort does it take to say hi?
What in the hell is an attention whore?
I'm an introvert who avoids most social situations, but I still wave or say hi to people on trails.
It seems like it's the East Coast runners who consider themselves above being considerate. Ratso Rizo. -
Do you wave and say hi to everyone driving in a car on the highway?
Do you wave and say hi to everyone when you are grocery shopping.
If someone gives me a nod I'll say hi back though. Be rude not to. -
old guy 68 wrote:
I'm an introvert who avoids most social situations, but I still wave or say hi to people on trails.
want a cookie? -
Chocolate chip?
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old guy 68 wrote:
wahwahwah
Nod as much as you like, but slowfvcks like you should just get off the trail when I'm about to pass you. That will make me happy and I may even send a positive thought your way.
