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Female runners
... say hello or make eye contact?
I thought it was just me, but when out for a couple of runs with Muttley Jnr he made the same observation. Nearly every female runner either looked through or blanked us. Male runners tended to nod or at least acknowledge our existence.
I'm puzzled.
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I give all of them a cheery hello/ morning/evening etc. If they ignore me I usually follow up with a louder 'ignorant twat/cow' (as appropriate) before they are out of earshot. I do this 3 or 4 times with each local face before giving up. Some learn after the first go and greet me first, others just stay in the trance. Strangely the men who wear all black outfits and tights are less likely to say hello... Maybe they think they are invisible in their ninja suits?? Or am I seeing ghosts??
I've not noticed a gender difference, but I have noticed a difference between those who are well turned out and those who have thrown the nearest bit of running kit on. There is also a difference between those with headphones and those without.
Given I'm headed toward dirty old man/my dotage territory I tend not to 'hallooo' younger women to avoid any possible misinterpretations.
slightly off topic, but linked and may explain why some (not all) women don't smile or wink.
i'm rubbish with chit chatting with builders/trades men. My partner kept telling me to lighten up and just chat. So I made a resolution to do just that. Along came the next trades man. I chatted. He started knocking on the door, waiting outside, even driving down the street following me..and this went on for some weeks. Needless to: harassment.
this is the balance women have to make: if I smile at a man is that going to give him the impression that means I want sex right there and then with him? Or is he going to think she's just saying hello and I'll just say hello back.
Muttley I don't think we look the way we think we look when we're running. Even teenage layabouts tend to go quiet and look down when I go past them.
GL, bless you you just don't know you're doing it do you? "Some learn..."
kaffeeg - I really don't know what to say to that. I've NEVER had that experience and I will talk to almost anyone. Maybe I'm just a minger
Supercaz - of course you're not a minger! And it's never anything to do with someone's levels of attractiveness. he was just a Dick. Simple.
Well, I have looked better in my time and I will look better again. I'm a bit of a 'specialist market' at the moment
I do a pained grin and grunt a hello at every runner and cyclist I pass when I'm out running. I'd acknowledge you Muttley
I think headphones make a lot of difference. I'll nod or say hello and the earplug people continue on unaware of anything or anyone. Most people (without blocked ears) will nod or grunt in response. Even a half a look I'll take as acknowledgement.
I have been known to even engage in conversation! I suggested to a dejected plodder that he should put his head up, pull his shoulders back and he'd feel better! Rather than tell me where to take my advice he thanked me and said he'd been mulling over work stuff. American, that might have helped.
Morning Limper
I should point out that I'm not one of these annoying "I must loudly greet everyone and I demand a response" types. I nod or slighly raise a hand to acknowledge others, nothing more than that. Of course I ignore the iPod zombies. And I am aware that I am no oil painting - shaven head, grimace, large vein throbbing on temple, etc.
But the way that laydee runners approach me, eyes cast downwards, sometimes makes me wonder if I've forgotten to put my shorts on.
I forgot to put my top on once and ran in my sports bra. I had an old man ask me whether I was cold
I don't buy the earphones in excuse for not returning an acknowledgment ... it may impair their hearing but not their vision !
I smile at everyone (and things - inc. sheep, cows horses rabbits etc) that I come across, for then I do live in a rural area so don't meet that many people. Generally get a response back too even from the lovely ladies (those rabbits though, they're ignorant feckers .. never wave back!)
Like Slowkoala, I am female and often wear headphones, and I say hello to other runners (male or female), people out for a walk (if it is early and there are not many of them) and cyclists.
Not a running thing,but it is true that men are much quicker to get the wrong idea if, as a young(ish) woman, you are spontaneously friendly to them.
I don't think headphones make you become an antisocial person. Of course it doesn't. But I think that some people who are listening to music tend to be more inward thinking and don't always notice what is going on around them so much. I know that is true of me in general when I listen to music, although as I can't stand headphones I never wear them when running.
Also some less confident people use headphones as a way of discouraging communication.
Just back from my run. Started to say hello to people. No response, regardless of gender. Then ran past 3 running groups, with about 10 people in each. Must have run past 50 runners today (embankment, city london running). If I would have said hello to each one....wouldn't have had the engery to do my run! (Not least because I had four vodkas and cranberry yesterday and a take away curry.....fantastic fueling)
Isn't some vodka made of potatoes? That's practically carb-loading.
That reminds me, though: the only antisocial bastards that never once said hello to me when I used to run in Nottingham were the Sweatshop running group.
Some smiled, some just made eye contact and some just ignored me.
I have noticed though, that I get a lot more smiles if I'm running with a female running partner.
I find men and women equally rude. Although if there is one type or runner generally that's more likely to make some acknowledgement it's a slower one.
I tend to agree with Muttley on this - women are less likely to acknowledge you (or me anyway) - I don't know if I'd call it rudeness though I'd just assumed it was as someone said over the page - a case of women not wanting to give the wrong impression - maybe women are more likely to acknowledge other women ?
Maybe there's also a little bit of more men who run being into it as a sport rather than just running for a bit of keep fit - only because at races I reckon men outnumber women but I see quite a few more women out running locally than I do men. If you see yourself as a runner you are more likely to acknowledge another runner - if you are just out for a jog you might wonder why someone else doing the same thing should nod at you.
I think this is most of the explanation, actually. Though where I live it is quite rural, so anyone outdoors at 8:30am on a Sunday will say hello to anyone else.
Literatin -
When I run in the countryside, I say hello to everyone. Usually mostly groups of cyclists that I pass.
saying that, the other day I was running in the countryside and a man with a shot gun came walking towards me. Now if that had happened in london........
Same here as kafeeg, I say hello to everyone, I find in the countryside everyone just acknowledges each other. All the cyclists I encountered this morning said hello and out of the three runners I saw only one bloke chose to ignore me.
That happened to me too last spring kaffeeg. I came running around a corner to be confronted with a man with a shotgun crossing the road. I stupidly posted it on facebook as it had made me smile and appreciate living back in the country again. However my friends panicked and thought I was about to be attacked or something
I always say hello.. i find walkers are the best for returning the good morning and smiling and maybe a comment about the weather...
Some runners ignore me and some dont... nothing to do with sex