Eric Hamilton
“Good morning!” Bob Landis calls out to each passerby on the Southwest Commuter Path, his arms swinging, slowly, high into the air and back down. It’s just after 7:30 a.m., and Landis’ voice punctuates the air, backdropped by the tacky sound of bike tires adhering to the asphalt and traffic on West Washington Avenue.
A fixture of this path, Landis sets himself apart with the hearty “good mornings,” rhythmic arm exercises, and his signature off-white bucket hat, which hides his eyes. But his voice, marked with a hint of gravel, projects far from underneath the hat. He might even sound stern if it weren’t for the kind greeting he offers.
“I come to Madison now in the summer: August, September and October. And I run every day except Sunday,” says Landis, when asked about his routine the morning after the record-breaking September heat wave broke. “My running routine has changed over the years — I’m getting older.”
Starting from downtown where he lives, Landis runs along the bike trail — greeting everybody — until he turns around at Mills Street. Retracting his steps, he walks and proceeds through a series of arm exercises that change at precise points along the trail.
After earning his doctorate in chemistry from UW–Madison in 1973, Landis, a Philadelphia native, worked for military contractors in Hawaii. He retired in 2009. Landis and his wife, Marilyn, now split their time between a winter home in Hawaii and traveling the world. As they’ve gotten older, summers in Madison have taken a more central role in their yearly routine. May, June and July are still reserved for wider travel.
Landis says that “about half” of the people he passes return his morning greetings. “A lot of them are regulars now. They see me all the time, so they say ‘hello’ before I get to them.”
“I love that guy,” one cyclist says to his partner as they speed past, looking back at Landis with a grin that suggests both ironic and sincere appreciation. Landis is already greeting the next person.
Angela Nieto moved to Madison in August. She sees Landis on her way to work at the Catholic Center on the university’s campus. “When I first heard him, I thought that was so nice. Why don’t we say ‘good morning’ to people? That just seriously made my day better,” she says.
Nieto says she’s caught some others on the path giving Landis a quizzical look for his rote greetings. “But a lot of other people I think really appreciate it,” she says. “I know I do.”
Landis says his habit of saying hello started when he was in the military, where he had to salute officers and they returned the greeting.
Back in civilian life, Landis continued the routine and found it improved his mood. He also realized he could connect with people who are overlooked by others, including those who are homeless.
“One of the things that happens when you walk by somebody ignoring them, not looking at them, not saying anything, they think ‘that person doesn’t like me.’ And you look at the picture on their face and they look glum,” says Landis.
“But if you say ‘hello,’ immediately they smile. It makes them feel good. And I’m an experimenter — I like to do that — and I noticed that, so I try to get people to smile. I think it makes them feel good and it makes me feel good.”
“Man is a social animal”: Credo behind Landis’ greetings
74: Landis’ age
1974: The year Landis started running
50: The number of “good mornings” Landis estimates he receives each morning in Madison
3: Miles Landis runs in Madison each day
78: Days Landis runs in Madison each year
