The returning runner…

Act 52 – Everyone on the trail is cranky friendly

I doggedly trailed my dad, a gangly 9-year old struggling to keep up. Other runners on the route were rare, this was a time when we knew almost every runner in San Diego County. In fact, as kids, we amused ourselves by being able to recognize callers just by their voice. Or, identifying a runner by their form while still a quarter mile off. But, on those rare occasions when we did come across another unknown runner, my dad would completely embarrass me by heartily greeting the other runner or encouraging them with a “way to go”! How embarrassing! We definitely didn’t want to be recognized as runners! If you went into a grocery store in the late 1960s wearing sweats everyone in the store would stare. People would call out from their cars sarcastically “hup, two, three, four”! Definitely geniuses…Now, I find myself greeting other runners on the trail more than any other runner I know – always calling out a greeting to another runner that I come across. And, as a safety curtesy, going overboard when coming up behind a female runner.

Somehow, this works. To me, it seems that 95% of people out on the trail walking, running, or biking are friendly. Whatever attitude I project, I seem to get reflected back to me. I’ve got running friends who are always complaining to me about how terrible bikers are, or hikers, or even other runners. Try making a change from within and gauge the results!