Back in the summer of 2013 the Conde Nast Traveler published their list of the un-friendliest
cities in the United States.[1]
Unfortunately, my current and a few of my former home cities were well
represented. The City of Sacramento was
number 10 on the list, which did not surprise me, but saddened me all the same.
Well, since then I have been literally “running” an
experiment on the friendly levels of my fellow Sacramentan's. The morning after I read the Conde Naste article I went on one of my
weekend runs along the American River Parkway, where I had always noticed how
few people waved or said hello. I made
it a point that day and many others since to deliberately wave to at least 90%
of the runners and walkers.
Here are a few observations.
I remind you that these are rough calculations:
- If I don’t wave it is an 80 percent chance they will not waive or say hello.
- People over 40 wave at higher rates than those under 40 and waiving and hello’s increase with age.
- Waving at others and them waving back or saying hello or other encouraging works motivates me on my run.
- Most walkers will wave.
- Women under 35 wave the least.
- More people wave or say hi or other comments when my 9-year old son is running with me.
- 90 percent of people wave, if I wave first; regardless of race, age or gender.
- My favorite is the 70-year (this is a guess) old woman who always says hello and motivates my son while telling stories of her father starting her to running at 7, the age my son started. I see her most Saturday’s and Sunday’s with her dog and cane.
- My last outing was made easier by the much older gentleman walking vigorously past me each way yelled, “Good Work!”
- Several trips to 2 of my former homes, Oakland (#2 on the list) and Los Angeles/Long Beach (#6 on the list) did not yield better results. Runs in Oakland around Lake Merritt yielded few waves on the weekends. This may be due to the large number of people out; a few more waives came if my run was during the work week.
- Los Angeles/Long Beach was not good for waves at all. Even if I waved to them, I would not get more than 50% of people waving.
- In February, I was in Denver and ran long their downtown creek. People were awesome and almost everybody waved or said hello before I could get my hand up. I was mostly struggling with adjusting to the altitude.
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