Oh those runs

As you may have noticed I have decided to do a few runs this year - a little trick to keep me exercising, haha. Every time I am at a run though I see tons and tons of garbage. There are water stations along the way, not just at the start and finish line, and food is served on paper plates. These paper cups and plates aren't usually from a supplier that produces compostable throw-away dishes. They are ordinary paper cups that once dirty go in the garbage - garbage, a word that should be made redundant but instead has become to signify a huge problem.


The races I have done had only about 300-400 participants so that's small scale but just think about the number of runs and walks that are on every week, and the size of some of them with thousands of participants. It's a fast growing mountain of paper garbage. During the Toronto marathon for example the water stations were so littered with cups that the runners had to run over them.


No, I don't have a solution for the problem other than that the organisers should use compostable cups and plates and runners should be encouraged to bring a water bottle (at least for use after and before the race) and reuse cups. The latter option is not going to happen during the race but could happen after and before the race if refill stations were provided. At one race I got quite upset actually about the teenage volunteers (who with little enthusiasm probably fulfilled their mandatory volunteer hours) that kept filling cups even way after the race had finished and runners were heading home, probably just because they were told to do so and still had cups left. I bet they ended up having to pour the water away and throw out the cups.What a waste for nothing. Personally I always take my water bottle to the runs and try to refill it or keep a cup to refill. Summer might be different but usually I do not require to drink during the run. Seems like it's going to be a hot and dry summer though and I am almost hoping it will rain on the next race day. 


And no, sporting events (unless it's motor sports) should not be erased due to the garbage they create, after all our society has become too lazy and fat to stop promoting physical activity.