A true resting heart rate is taking right when you open your eyes in the morning, before you get up out of bed.
An "average" resting HR is based on population averages. Based on a normal distribution on a bell curve, the "average resting HR is between 60-100bpm. However, there are those individuals who are out on the tails of the bell curve, the outliers, those whose resting HR is 2 standard deviations from the norm - their resting HRs may be lower than average (or higher) and still be normal. We associate lower resting HRs with an aerobically fit person but some people genetically have a lower resting HR.
In general, women's resting HR are higher than men's because they have smaller hearts (so they have to pump faster to pump an equivalent amount of blood).
Whether you genetically have a low resting HR or not, your resting HR rate WILL go down if you train aerobically on a regular, consistent basis. This is actually on of the measure of whether your training program is working...your resting HR goes down. Keeping track of your waking HR is a good training tool...if it slowly goes down, you are doing something right. If it goes up, it is an indication that you are overtraining. A side note: a waking HR that is slightly above normal can also be one of the first indications that you are getting a cold/flu. Great time to do take some preventative steps to ward the virus off entirely!
I think we see the champions of endurance events having extremely low resting HR both because of their amazing cardiorespiratory fitness as well as their gifted genetical make-up.
A number of thing increase our resting heart rate: stress, caffeine consumption, and, surprisingly, overeating!
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