{"id":607,"date":"2013-02-27T10:00:22","date_gmt":"2013-02-27T18:00:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bukkhead.com\/blog\/?p=607"},"modified":"2013-02-27T08:35:24","modified_gmt":"2013-02-27T16:35:24","slug":"do-you-wave","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bukkhead.com\/blog\/2013\/02\/27\/do-you-wave\/","title":{"rendered":"Do You Wave?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Posted at The Loop<\/a>, the blogs at Runner’sWorld.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nIt\u2019s a little after seven in the morning, not quite light but not fully dark either. I\u2019m two minutes into a run, chugging up a minor incline, on the left side of the road, no sidewalks, not even a decent patch of grass to skim along. Headlights appear ahead, and I glance behind me to see if there\u2019s anyone approaching from behind. There\u2019s no one else\u2014just me and the oncoming car. It\u2019s still a quarter mile away but the driver nevertheless eases into the other lane. I wait until he\u2019s a hundred yards away, and then lift my hand in thanks.<\/p>\n

Do you wave when you run? I do\u2014my theory is that every runner is a running ambassador, and it is our duty to spread goodwill to those who have to interact with us. I\u2019m lucky in that the neighborhoods where I run are mostly run-friendly: sidewalks, running trails, plenty of crosswalks at the busy intersections. But sometimes I wind up on a road without a sidewalk, and so I run in the street. I always run on the left side of the road, so I can see any cars coming, and most of the time they make a point of giving me as much space as possible.<\/p>\n

And want them to be glad they did it. I want them to know it\u2019s appreciated\u2014so I wave, knowing that they\u2019ll come across another runner someday, and that we\u2019re grateful for the consideration. Sometimes if the traffic is a bit busy, I might come across three or four cars in a row. But they each get a wave, even if it looks like I think I\u2019m in a parade or something.<\/p>\n

I wave to other runners, too, and pedestrians if we\u2019re sharing a sidewalk. (I don\u2019t wave to bikers, because I don\u2019t want them to think they have to take their hands off the handlebars and wave back\u2014to them I give a very obvious head-nod). I figure that as lonely a sport as running can be, it\u2019s god to acknowledge others as much as possible.<\/p>\n

I guess it comes down to this: I don\u2019t have to run. Running is a luxury, an indulgence, and if someone has to adjust their activity to accommodate me, they\u2019re doing me a favor. Some guy in pick-up truck, on his way to a job, didn\u2019t wake up in the morning expecting to have to deal with a potential deadly situation on the asphalt. And maybe it\u2019s not big deal to turn the wheel a few degrees for a few seconds. But it\u2019s no big deal to hold my hand up for a few seconds and smile, either.<\/p>\n

And sometimes they wave back, and smile too. And to me that\u2019s pretty cool.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Posted at The Loop, the blogs at Runner’sWorld.com It\u2019s a little after seven in the morning, not quite light but not fully dark either. I\u2019m two minutes into a run, chugging up a minor incline, on the left side of the road, no sidewalks, not even a decent patch of grass to skim along. Headlights … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Do You Wave?”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-607","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-running"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p24y52-9N","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bukkhead.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/607","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bukkhead.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bukkhead.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bukkhead.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bukkhead.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=607"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.bukkhead.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/607\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":608,"href":"https:\/\/www.bukkhead.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/607\/revisions\/608"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bukkhead.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=607"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bukkhead.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=607"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bukkhead.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=607"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}