Anyone whom has run with me is either horrified or entertained by my propensity to give other runners high-fives. It’s not that I am not in the business of collecting sweat samples nor am I playing cheerleader but that I am in such a good mood during my runs that a high-five for every other runner seems appropriate. What is most interesting about my would-be breaching experiment is the frequency of takers to my offer.
In the last week, I have kept track of my success rate. Better than 80% of runners (or 42/51) are willing to high-five me, a total (and sweaty) stranger.
Try that with passing pedestrians on the street!
I was recently in Colorado and two kids aged 4 and 6 were offering just that, free high-fives to passing pedestrians. I was curious so I watched 50 or so walk by these charitable kids. As it turns out, I was the only one willing to swap skin with the adorable blond-haired philanthropists.
By all common-sense standards, the innocent and transparent benevolence of the kids should trump my sweat-laden proffer any day. Clearly, my admittedly anecdotal evidence shows it does not.
Why the difference?
The common ground shared with fellow runners is enough to climb over an individual’s wall of skepticism. What is a wall of skepticism? It is that initial concern over intention when someone offers something unexpectedly. It is that suspicion you get when someone volunteers to go above and beyond without cost. The wall of skepticism is built with the questions Who are you? and What do you want?
By offering a high-five to another runner with a genuine smile on my face I answer their questions. I am a runner and I want to share my joy of the moment. I ascend the wall. It’s sweet.
The kids on the street only implicitly answer one question. We’re cute kids. But being cute kids is not enough to make people comfortable with the uncertainty of their ultimate intention such as, “Are you trying to sell me something?”
So what does this get us? Knowing that we have been trained to be weary of unexpected offers is important for anyone trying to get anything done with a doubter. From selling to conversant interaction you have to get over the wall. How are you — from body language to diction — implicitly answering the questions of a skeptic before you are able to get to your desired point?
Of course I could be entirely off base and my aggressive hand-in-your-face high-five offer is harder to turn down than to comply for most confused and exhausted runners. Obviously, I like to think otherwise.
* The less than rigorous science and misleading title presented above has not been peer-reviewed or independently verified, obviously. If you run, I invite you to high-five freely and share what you find. For tips on how to present for the high-five of a passing runner please ask. Note that this can be extended to any community such as cyclists, jeep drivers, or NASCAR fans. Regardless of personal findings, I stand by the idea that runners are joyous people, likely attributable to the copious amounts of endorphins coursing through their post-run brains. Rock on.
As an aside, any athlete, past or present, knows that to move on to the next level, their body’s normal messages must be ignored (no pain, no gain). However, I am on the cusp of my racing season and decided to better understand my physiology with a heart rate monitor during today’s training run.*
- My resting heart rate is 50 beats per minute (BPM)
- My normal long distance training pace (subjectively, 75-80% of maximum effort) is just under 8 minutes per mile and was achieved at a heart rate of 160 BPM.
- At the end of a 16 mile training run, my heart rate had climbed to a steady 170 BPM for miles 13-15 with no increase in pace. Mile 16 was run at 175 BPM (and flirted with 180 BPM) due to my kick into the finish.
- When running around people early in the run — that is to say, around town — my heart rate was 170 BPM. I assume this is evidence to my tendency to run fast around people (I’m human).
- It took 6 minutes for my heart rate to return under 75 BPM (heart rate while standing) after my workout.
* These statistics are here more for me than you. But in the event you, the reader, are the holder of an EXSS degree or equivalent, I am putting these stats out for your perusal and comment. I want a record to look back and compare to later on in the season to gauge improvement. To keep it fun I have very few objective goals with my running but I’d like to know I’m improving my health with all the hard work and time.
