Women of Woodlands pre-run meet and greet, giving us reps on breaking the ice ice….baby.
The mile-stones are rolling my friends right into month 2 of growing group runs (close to 30 runners between both last week) and this week is our first Saturday Running for the (not quite) Gil's Ashland group run, the first since pre-Rona. It's in the social spirit as the lights come on in the world both proverbially and with daylight savings that we warm up to seeing people, places, and things - reminding ourselves how to actually talk to be people near their actual faces.
As people of a great many passions with running among them, if you're reading this you're probably good at or maybe even weirdly super into doing difficult things. It's a reason that I'm so intrigued by runners in general. Most skip immediately past the bullshit X's and O's of life and get right to pouring out and working through deep inner world stuff. BUT...today we're not solving for the existential musings of our inner world, we're going all in one small, specific, important difficulty: how to successfully navigate the dreaded small talk crisis triggered by asking and being asked, "how are you?"
First, we need to agree that "how are you" is just an awful question, starting with the fact that it's not really a question at all, more of a supped up 'hello' dressed up in a cute lil polite outfit. It leaves the answerer with only a few options; 1. Just say "good" to satisfy the requirement of the answer. This is boring and dishonest (what the heck is being "good" mean anyhow?!). 2. Answer honestly which puts the asker in a situation where they'll be forced to ask a follow-up question to not seem detached and may alienate you from being asked questions in the future after getting the title of "the wildcard" or "a little extra". Anyone on the receiving end of an innocuous "how are you" is in a position where their life flashes before their eyes and they have to pluck the right word(s) to keep the connection while also being real. Being social is hard ya'll.
This past week I found myself twice arriving at group runs where friends and soon-to-be-new-friends had gathered for some pre-run chit chat and out of my mouth, you guessed it, I went right to "how are you". Do you know what I needed? A few alternatives in my back pocket. So, my socially awkward and we're-all-doing-our-best adult friends, let's think of some, shall we? Thanks to our Woodlands community friends, here are some ideas to break the ice with new/old friends that is now 'how are you' (which we're retiring after today, okay????)
What's been your favorite moment this week?
What is the funniest thing that happened to you last week?
Hello! It's great to see you.
How did you wake up feeling today?
What have you done lately that has brought you joy?
How did you get into running?
Where did you grow up?
What have you been doing?
If you want to ride off the rails/lean into your own magnificent awkwardness, maybe go for something like:
Anytime I run I think about food. What is the best and least best aid station food? Why?
What does your first name mean?
What is the quirkiest thing about you?
If you had to go without one of your 4 limbs, which one would go?
Did you have any weird dreams lately?
What's a nickname people call you? (or did as a kid) How did you earn that?
What game show would you kick butt at?
We know some of you like going deep on stuff, so for more researched articles on this topic such as the origins of "how are you" HERE and the phrase as a Western impulse to be polite written beautifully about, HERE.
This is a big week with 3 group run options - a coed group run on Tuesday at Roxy Ann in Medford, a women's run on Thursday in Ashland, and a multi-distance group run option (the longest at 2ish hours) on Saturday. Check out below for deets and looking forward to hearing your ice breaker question selection. Slip into our DM's and let us know what you tried. Also, we are officially announcing the 2021 Woodlands Endurance Team this week - woohoo! Watch for Wednesday emails the next month or so highlighting the team members and give them a follow on their socials.