I began run­ning as a high school fresh­man and am still run­ning now, mar­ried and in my late 20’s. In oth­er words, I’ve been run­ning my entire dat­ing life. I’ve wit­nessed all the var­i­ous on-the-run pick-up attempts and first dates and to put it short­ly, run­ners stand out as being sil­ly, ridicu­lous, and awk­ward. Please allow me to elab­o­rate on some of my obser­vances over the years. Hope­ful­ly a female per­spec­tive on flirt­ing on the run can be used as good advice to a young buck out there chas­ing his dream runner.

Per­haps it’s eas­i­er to begin with what not to do. Guys — you can’t eas­i­ly get away with sim­ply com­pli­ment­ing a female runner’s out­fit, con­sid­er­ing that run­ning clothes are often skintight. Giv­ing a thumbs up to a girl’s com­pres­sion tights may come across as more creepy than com­pli­men­ta­ry. If you com­pli­ment her hair, she’s going to laugh at you because it’s most like­ly just in a sweaty pony­tail. That real­ly only leaves the shoes as fair game, but no girl’s heart has ever been won over by, “Cool Brooks. You tie a mean dou­ble bow.”

Faster run­ners may get the nov­el idea that speed will show what a great mate you are. (Because, you know, we’re still in the Stone Age). Unfor­tu­nate­ly, speed­ing past a cute girl mul­ti­ple times will like­ly earn an eye roll before a num­ber. On the bright side, you’ll get a good in calo­rie burn from all that extra effort.

It’s cool to ask a girl on a run­ning date, but there are a few rules for suc­cess. First, she has to actu­al­ly like run­ning. Some women run sole­ly for exer­cise and loath it as much as the aver­age per­son; ask­ing this type of run­ner on a run­ning date may scare her into think­ing she’ll have to keep run­ning if she likes you. Sec­ond, you absolute­ly must not try to race her; if you beat her she’ll be pissed, and if you let her win she’ll be resent­ful. Def­i­nite­ly offer to share your water on the run and after. I also high­ly rec­om­mend buy­ing her a cof­fee or beer (depend­ing on the time of day) after the run. She just worked pret­ty hard on a first date, after all.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you are not nor­mal­ly a run­ner, do not pre­tend to be one just to impress her. As soon as it becomes appar­ent that you’re a pos­er – and it will become appar­ent – she will leave you in her dust. Who wants to date a liar? At least admit you’re not already a run­ner but want to give it a try. Still, keep in mind that run­ners aren’t ani­mals; they don’t only mate with their own kind. It’s okay to be who you are and still date a run­ner. Hell, I mar­ried a pro­fes­sion­al chef and rock climber, about as far from a run­ner as you can get. (Grant­ed, he’s a run­ner now.)

If you’re slow, you may try to win her over with self-depre­ci­at­ing humor. It’s kind of like that guy in col­lege every girl knows who isn’t cute, but he’s so fun­ny and sweet that you end up falling for him. Hell, many girls end up mar­ry­ing him.

All in all, the take­away mes­sage is that if you want to flirt with a run­ner, tag along on a slow­er recov­ery day and offer to buy her a drink after­ward. And for good­ness sake, make sure your work­out shorts are longer than hers.