If you’re like most people, you probably have the opportunity to meet someone new everyday. At work. At church. Standing in line at the grocery store. Waiting for your kids at a recital. On a dating website. You know where you go.
But everyone wants to be original and memorable. We all want to say something to break the ice, to start up a conversation where the other person will share something about themselves, you get to share something about yourself, and you’ll both get to laughing like you’ve always been friends.
So say you’re at an event and you overheard that someone is a runner. Here are 5 questions you should ask and 5 questions you shouldn’t.
Big Fat No’s
5. Don’t ask Did you run in Rio 2016?
4. Don’t ask Are you going to run in Tokyo 2020?
3. Don’t ask Have you won any marathons lately?
2. Don’t ask Do you know Usain Bolt or Meb Keflizighi or (insert name of famous runner here)?
And the number one question you should avoid is…
1. Don’t ask After what happened to that jogger in the park, don’t you think you should stop running?
Green Light
5. Do ask What’s your running plan like?
4. Do ask Who’s your running inspiration?
3. Do ask Do you prefer road or trail running?
2. Do ask When did you start running?
and the number one question you should ask a runner is…
1. Do ask What advice would you give someone who wants to start running?
Ask us to talk freely about about our running experiences or for running advice and you’ll always get a response.
Are you a runner? What else would you add to this list?
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Cute post! My advice would be just do it and start slow with mileage and pace. Have a great weekend!
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Thanks Deborah. Starting slow and taking it easy with the increases is the best advice I think. I was just saying this to someone this week. Overdoing it at the beginning is prob the reason a lot of new runners get injured and quit
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Whenever I run a race, my grandma always asks me if I won. I don’t think she understands the whole running for recreation thing haha. Great tips!
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No there’s a good chance that she doesn’t. 😀 What do you say to her when she asks?
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great questions! of course if someone asked me if I knew Meb, my answer would be yes 😉
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Haha. You’ve met Meb, right? I saw him on a course once so that totally counts too, I guess 😀
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YES!! met him at a sponsored event earlier this year and ran a lap with him!
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If someone asked me if I knew the world’s fastest man, I might be tempted to say yes.
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Haha. I do. I tell people I know him from Jamaica but then I tell them I’m kidding.
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Ugh #1 on the don’t list is so true! I hate that one! I also hate that people keep asking me questions about getting back to running after my injury. People will ask me anything, including “Why are you sad you can’t run? I’d be so happy if a doctor told me I couldn’t run!” and then they laugh. It drives me crazy!
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Oh man that’s terrible. But that’s cause they just don’t understand. We don’t run because we’re forced to. We run because we want to.
I hope you’re much better soon.
Thanks for the comment
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These lists are great! Please don’t ask me if I’ve won my race!
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I know, right. People who ask that question clearly don’t get how hard it is to win a distance event. Sometimes there are hundreds or even thousands of runners. There can only be one person in first place. And winning isn’t even the reason why I’m running. When I run, my race is against my former self, the one that used to sleep late instead of running
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Haha! What I’d add is don’t ask people how far their marathon is! I get that question a lot…
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I was thinking about that one too. Or one time someone asked me what a half marathon was – is it just that you run half of the marathon and quit? Haha
Thanks for the comment.
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