I'm a very friendly person – I really am. But smiling at other runners has never been my thing. I tend to duck my head a bit, thankful for my great big sunglasses and ear buds which I wear like an invisibility cloak as I pound the pavement or the track. I know that sounds awful but I can't help it. I'm a very self-conscious runner. It took me a few years (and a Nike+) to get off the treadmill and onto the open road. Even when I saw other runners, I’d think they thought I was an out of shape slowpoke. Crazy, I know. I've completed 4 marathons! Still, the running community seemed like a clique I couldn't be a part of.

Well, guys, you should have seen me during the Nike+ Human race. My cheeks hurt from smiling! Really! My arms were tired from waving and high-fiving all over the place- it was awesome! Training for that day and the day itself really opened my eyes to a larger running community of people just like me who aren't sub-eight minute milers. My kind of runners don't always look like they could be on the cover of some fitness magazine.

Heck, I'm lucky if my shorts and shirt match half the time! But none of that matters when we're out there just pushing ourselves to achieve our running goals. Sometimes that goal is to finish the Human Race 10k, sometimes that goal is just to get yourself out of bed to run before work. No matter what, we runners support each other and, as I've learned, appreciate the smile and wave from those crossing your path. No one else is judging you out there, just encouraging you and finding strength in the connection of the running experience. And how cool it was for everyone running on Saturday to know that we share that connection with runners all over the world? Pretty darn cool.

So now I'm trying to be a friendly waving, smiling runner and so far, it's improved my runs and my attitude. I encourage everyone who ran this year's Human Race to keep the momentum going by continuing to build the Nike+ community add me as a friend for challenges and to smile and wave to other runners out there. And if that other runner is me, add a "woo-hoo! Keep it up!"

I love that.