On this Thanksgiving week edition of Warm Current, I’m going to share a weird story about owls, but I promise to avoid corny maxims or ridiculous advice on “surviving” the holiday. Instead I want to share that I saw this story the other day, and it reminded me of why making an effort to connect with other people is as true as ever. The piece by Adrienne So of Wired is about her experience with Fitbit’s new “AI Health Coach.” And as someone who coaches runners of all ages, who also sees some erosion of my industry as a communicator, I was curious about whether AI was already making inroads into another of my personal areas of experience.
Turns out my attempts to define and demonstrate the importance of connection are on the mark.
In the piece, the writer tries to improve her running through the AI coaching, but discovers that what makes her faster, and keeps her motivated is running with other people.
Her motivation was rooted in humanity. She started working on her pace because she wanted to keep up with her child. A real live human coach gave her some “sneaky advice:” Running with people who are faster than you will make you faster. And her family was about ready to stage an intervention when they felt she was getting weird about optimizing her performance with AI, and suggested she “start talking to other people.”
I just did that this week, and the results were immediate. You might’ve seen a recent post where I shared that I met a runner who’s a former professional middle distance runner. Well, I met up with him this week for a run. And instead of my usual plodding pace, we ripped off 10K at under 7:30/mile pace. Not blazing, but faster than I’ve been running in training for ultras, where pace is secondary to just finishing.
When we were done, I told him that I would never have run that fast if he wasn’t with me. He said that the same was true for him. Turns out he had stopped running for a couple of years after being a pro, and had only rebooted running a few months ago. He needed someone to push him as much as I needed someone to pull me. Neither of us would have hit that pace alone.
You just never know what’s going to happen until you try.
So, on this holiday, I encourage you to lean into human connection.
So, put down the phone, close your fitness app and go do something with someone else. Bonus points if you go running with someone faster than you. Bots will always be there. Friends – not so much unless you show up, too.
As for the owl story… This is totally unrelated to anything, but I just had to share… The last two mornings, I have been attacked by an owl while out for my morning runs! Both times, I lost a hat! Yesterday I was a block south of my house, running down an alley I run down several times a week. Suddenly I felt something sharp on the top of my head and my hat came off. I thought maybe I’d run into a tree branch in the dark. But when I turned around to retrieve my hat, I saw no branch low enough to snag, and my hat was nowhere to be found. It was dark, but a nearby streetlamp shed enough light in the alley that I could tell my hat was not on the ground. It took me a second to consider that perhaps a bird swooped at me. Rubbing the place where it felt something sharp hit me, I found a teensy spot of blood. That’s when I assumed an owl got me. I don’t think it was a crow because they usually make a racket when they dive bomb me, and they never make contact. Later when the sun was up, I walked my dog down the alley, and still didn’t find a hat.
This morning, I tossed on my only other running cap and went out the door. This time, I headed west. And while I glanced at the trees briefly, I figured, “That’s not going to happen again.”
WRONG!
A few blocks from home I suddenly felt my hat grabbed again, and this time I looked up right away to see an owl swooping up to a utility line above me. He dropped a dead rabbit and the headlamp fell off my cap and clattered to the ground. From his perch on the utility lines, I could see he had my hat. It was a barred owl. About the size of a football. I waved my arms at him and cursed him a few times, but he just opened his wings a bit and stayed on the line, staring at me. I was heading to the meetup group, so I cussed him again and kept running. On my way home, I swung by the spot again. I saw the dead rabbit, but no hat.
I told colleagues about my owl run-ins. They’re scientists, and all are recommending I try gluing googly eyes to the top of my hats as a deterrent. I’ll let you know if I encounter any more hat-hungry hooligan owls.
Anyway… Have a great holiday. I hope it involves less screen time and more connection. Just not connection with owl talons!