• Unless someone else is doing it to you •
[2 MIN READ]
As the anchor of Growlers Group Run at Jenkintown Running Company, there are certain things I do to connect with people and make them feel welcome. After we do the name thing all around, I ask lots of questions and listen a lot—maybe a little more of the former than the latter. The goal is to find common connections to build on, i.e., take the steps to become friends. For a running group, learning about each other’s running is easy and natural, but getting to know each other on a more personal level is important, too; after all, few of us are really well defined by one attribute alone.
This last year, I managed to miss newbie John the 2 times he attended the run club. I caught his visage twice on the weekly attendance photo that the club deputy dutifully took with every expectation that I’d get to know him better as he continued with us. As circumstances would have it, he didn’t. I managed to meet him anyway, just not at the store.
Running northbound on Pennypack Trail toward Welsh Rd recently, I approached someone going southbound. As he got closer, I realized it was John. Now, looking back at attendance photos, I get to internalize people’s faces and names, even if we never get to exchange names formally. That gives me an unexpected advantage that someone could easily misunderstand. As we passed, I called his name and he turned to look at me in surprise. I immediately yelled: “Calvin, Growlers Group Run, Jenkintown Running Company!” I reckon it wasn’t too weird, because he yelled back, “Nice to meet you!” as we continued our respective runs.
My picture is on the Growlers page of the store’s website (don’t judge me), but I doubt he looks at it the way I look at weekly attendance photos, so it must have been a bit of a shocker for someone he didn’t know to be yelling at him like they did. Imagine my own surprise when I found a friend request on Strava from some strange dude name John! Clearly, he figured out my first and last name to be able to look me up. Once I accepted his request, I started following him and we exchanged a couple of messages.
Next time he’s able to coordinate another outing with the Growlers, we’ll be hugging like best buds. If not, it could be awkward.
-CtCloser (Calvinthe), “Negative split or positive splat” #dothedue
FINE PRINT ¶Likeness used with permission. ¶Text and photos (unless otherwise stated): Calvin Wang (Wäng), CC BY-NC-SA 4.0. ¶Cross-posted: (1) Facebook JRC Growlers Group Run (2025’03’05’W Run Message), (2) GGR email list, (3) Cerebruns by CtCloser. ¶This website posting: Cerebrun only with added caption.
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