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ROOTING FOR OTHER RUNNERS CAN ACTUALLY BOOST YOUR SPIRITS AND PERFORMANCE.

- Kiera Aaron Carter

RAISE YOUR HAND IF A spectator gave you a boost during a race – if a funny sign made you smile, an ice lolly saved your soul at kilometre 32, a stranger’s high-five put more oomph in your steps. Now, keep it up if you’ve been a solid spectator yourself. Hand still up? It should be – and not only for a vague sense of race karma. Turns out, cheering for other people might actually help make you a better runner.

The reason why is something psychologists call ‘self-efficacy by vicarious experiences’, a fancy way of saying you’re more likely to believe you can accomplish something when you see other people getting it done. “You think, If they can do it, I can do it too,” says Cindra Kamphoff, PhD, professor of sports psychology at Minnesota State University and author of Beyond Grit: Ten Powerful Practices to Gain the High- Performance Edge.