Why I High Five Little Kids at Road Races...

When I was training for my first marathon, I read an article from an esteemed cross country coach who talked about what he would tell his runner's when they decided they wanted to run a marathon. There was some good advice mixed in with his personal anecdotes, but one thing I remember reading and immediately disagreeing with was his assertion that, while running a marathon, you should not high five the little kids lined up watching the race.

If you've never been to a marathon or a long distance road race before, let me explain. Generally, at some point on the course, there will be kids out cheering with their parents...or cheering for their parents. And generally, at one or more of these locations, those kids will hold out their hands towards the runners going by looking for a high five. Prior to my marathon, I had seen this at every half marathon I'd run, and I had given a lot of little high fives as I'd gone running by. But here, in regards to the marathon distance, the respected coach said no...no more high fives.

His reasoning, I thought, was well intentioned, but also rather stupid. He contended that in a marathon, the runner needed every extra ounce of energy they could muster. While at mile 5 you may feel like you have extra energy to zig-zag across the road hitting outstretched hands, by mile 23 you needed to be running within yourself...focused...not expending extra energy...focused on you.

That's true to a point. At the Chicago Marathon in 2013, I ran so "within myself" that I completely missed the people that had actually come to cheer for me and trekked around the course to see me run. I was focused, and 'in the zone', and that was a good thing...to an extent.

But here's the other thing I've found to be true of my distance running, while you need all the energy you can personally muster, you also need to feed off the energy that the race offers you. The people who come out to cheer for a road race like a marathon, bring a lot of energy! They're cheering, and waving signs, and ringing cowbells, and playing music, and volunteering to offer you cups of water and Gatorade, all so that you can feel good and find that extra push to make it to the finish line.

There are times and places in this world when running up to a stranger holding "Free High Fives" sign in the middle of crowded Chicago might seem like a bad idea. The Chicago Marathon is not one of them!

...especially if it's a kid!

I mean think about it. Here's a kid, who's been taken to stand on the side of the road all morning and watch sweaty strangers run past looking for the one person he/she might know, and instead of getting bored, or complaining to their parents, or playing on an iPhone, they've chosen to stand there with their hand out trying to get a high five. Why? Because they think you're cool! Because they think it's a big deal when one of the runners gives them a high five! You know who else kids line up for to give high fives? Celebrities! Famous athletes! You know what else gets kids excited about standing on the side of the road for hours at a time? People who throw candy from parade floats. If you're running a marathon and you see a kid hold out their hand for a high five...you have reached the level of celebrity/famous athlete/candy thrower. And if you deny them that high five, you're just as bad as those full of themselves pro-athletes who ignore the fan lines after/before the game.

Last weekend was the Med City Fall Half Marathon. The course was lovely, but didn't run through a lot of populated areas, and there wasn't much of a crowd. In fact, by the back half of the race, the racers themselves were pretty spread out along the course, and much of the time I felt more like I was out on a long run by myself then in the middle of a race. But every now and again, there'd be a neighborhood, or a family of a fellow runner, or just some Sunday strollers along the route who would clap and whoop and holler. And three times, little groups of kids excitedly held out their hands waiting to see if they could snag a high five. I felt good on Saturday...ran my fastest race in two years...and had no problem moving over to slap palms. But I'd like to think that even if I was struggling, I'd do the same.

Because here's the thing. Sometimes I feel so good during a race that I'm zig-zagging all over the road going for every high five I can because, "Heck yes! This is awesome!" Other times, I feel so bad during the race that I'm literally looking for someone to give me a high five so that I don't feel like I'm going to die, and it feels like what I'm doing is fun and cool and athletic as opposed to just incredibly stupid. But whether or not I make it to every hand or not, I always appreciate the people who stand there and offer them. Because if you think about it, the only thing about as crazy as signing up to run 26 miles, is voluntarily standing on the side of the road watching people run 26 miles and high fiving them!

 Happy Trails,