I’m not really a jogger. A jogger would be someone who moves along constantly at some pace clearly not a walk.

I mix walking with jogging. Which makes it, what, slogging? Wogging? Jalking?

But even though my jogger bona fides are substandard, by moving steadily through a neighborhood I face the same daily decisions real joggers do: Those moments when this oh-so-solitary activity takes on a social component.

To wit: When to acknowledge people who cross your path?

This has become a more pressing issue for me since moving to south Long Beach, an area where joggers are common.

What to do when you see one coming at you?

I have come up with a set of guidelines. (Amend to fit your own personality profile.)

1. You need make no acknowledgment of different species of exercisers, particularly those on wheels. Bicyclists, skateboarders, roller-bladers are living a different experience. Your kinship is negligible; they are only a step removed from people in cars.

2. You need not acknowledge any group of three or more. They probably already are interacting, and you’re waving or saying “hello” will seem weird. Intrusive. It’s hardly different than approaching a group in a bar and expecting to be admitted into a conversation.

3. Do not wave at or say anything to a jogger/walker you are catching up to and passing. There’s something a little superior in overtaking a fellow jogger. Waving at one while he/she looks at your back can be construed as an “eat my dust” taunt.

4. Always acknowledge any single jogger who is coming toward you and makes eye contact. You may puff out a “hello” or raise one hand or even one finger. Smile, if you are so inclined. These are your kindred spirits, out alone, grinding out the yards for whatever reason.

5. Strongly consider walkers/dog-walkers who come toward you as fellow travelers. Especially the former. If anything, their lesser pace makes your meeting something you both can see coming, and looking right past them can seem like a personal rebuke.

6. If you are a “head down cuz I’m suffering” jogger, and you’re too miserable even to admit to the existence of others … you are allowed to pass on saying hello. But be consistent. Don’t look up now and again and blow off somebody.

7. Feel free, almost obligated, to wave at a jogger who appears older than you are. If you’re in middle age and the jog is an effort … well, Pops there is having it even tougher than you are and deserves to be noticed. The same applies to people even chubbier than you are. If they have found the will power to pound some ground … they deserve a to be noticed.

8. Anyone wearing headphones … that’s your personal call. Some folks listen to music to help distract them from the rigors of jogging, and they might be open to a wave. (They won’t hear your hello.) Some people with headsets don’t want to interact; that’s why they put on the headphones.

One last proviso: Take into account WHERE you are jogging. If you’re in a rural or suburban area, err on the side of friendliness. If you’re in the big city, most people probably don’t want to be bothered, especially when there are so many of you out there that you might be waving every 50 feet.

I’ll think about this more. What else is there to do while shuffling along?