Okay, I wanted to get some opinions regarding a scenario that happened to me today. It was a beautiful day in Munich, and I went on my daily run through our version of Central Park. I normally get peoples' attention because I'm a good runner and go at a pretty fast pace. Anyhow, by about 3 miles in, I'm guessing that I look pretty nasty: I'm working up a pretty good sweat, I've got snot dripping from my nose (I'm fighting a cold), and since I tend to not want to give the impression that I'm a poser, I sport a pretty scruffy running outfit.

At this point, what looks to be a pretty cute (maybe HB7) German girl slowly is going by me on rollerblades, and she turns her head towards me and smiles. I give a nice smile and nod as she's moving past me. I was also trying to say "hey", but I was between breaths and it came out like a whisper. Then about 5 minutes later, I see her sitting on a bench to the side. I slow down a little, she looks up at me, and I smile and wave as I run by. She smiles back, but I kept on trucking. Part of it may have been AA, but I was honestly figuring that I was a filthy pig at this point, and I WAS trying to run.

Anyhow, on to my question: should I have stopped and opened? Or was I right that opening when you're clearly looking and smelling like shit (not to mention breathing heavy) is not a good way to go? I'm thinking to a Sun Tsu expression that a good general knows when not to enter a battle (loose paraphrase)... Of course, that could be my lame-ass way of covering up my big AA weakness of talking myself out of approaches way too fucking much... Thoughts?

i dont think it would've been a good idea to open her.
sick, sweating, scruffy looking and out of breath. i think she was just being polite.

if you'll likely never see her again why not?
if shes someone you have a decent chance of running in to again, then yes wait for a better time

Cool, thanks guys. I do tend to see the same faces in the park over time, so yeah, we might cross paths again when I'm not looking so bad. Anyhow, I'm glad my instincts were okay here. I tend to second-guess myself about approaching a lot, because I know a ton of times in the past where I should have and I pussied out...