Make some noise!

Today I will talk about some of my recent running experiences as I have traditionally run with my wife but lately, due to a flareup of plantar fasciitis, have had to run on my own which has opened me up to a bunch of new experiences.  I now have to be more cautious of my pace as I don't have my coach with me, I have to pay attention to where I am going since she usually keeps me on the right path, and I have received more attention from people driving or running past me.




As many of you may know, or at the very least now know, I do the majority of my running with my wife.  Each week is sprinkled with 3, 4 or 5 mile runs with the weekend dedicated to a couple longer runs depending on where we are in our current race training plan.


With my beautiful, blonde, wife running next to me, while I look something like the image to the right, it is not a surprise that any attention we get from a passersby is very clearly guys who are focused on her.  Through our many runs she has even earned the nickname "Mayhem" which I will definitely go into more in another post.  It has been much to my surprise over these last few weeks of solo running that I have been getting some attention of my own!


On a 9-mile run a couple weeks ago I crested a large hill at mile 7 feeling very worn having not respected the long run pace when I got a few quick beeps from a young lady in a SUV with a HUGE smile on her face.  Needless to say my final two miles were even faster as I was almost floating on clouds since I almost never get any feedback from others.

That mild euphoria subsided pretty quickly though as I dismissed it as a one off fluke until today on my slow, sloppy, wet 10-miler the day after the area got our first real snow cover of the season.  A bright and sunny day today a lot of people were out in the area, the weather was mild so there were a number of other runners, parents took their kids sledding and even a few people broke out their snowshoes in the park. What gave me the big boost today were two separate instances of attention from people as I passed them.  The first was in the park when a young lady running in the opposite direction flashed a big smile, not typical when I'm with my wife, and the second was some friendly beeping a short while later by another lady grinning ear to ear at me.

Ultimately I have to say, if you see someone running, or doing ANY sort of activity, and you want to give them a few friendly beeps or a smile JUST DO IT!  It doesn't matter if they are on their own or with a group of people, it WILL give them a boost and help validate all the work they are putting into it.  It doesn't matter if they are in their first or tenth mile, your noise is appreciated!

I also HAVE to say that while I do appreciate this extra attention I would trade it away in a moment to get to run with my wife again.

What have you experienced as you pass people while exercising?

- Ian.