Happy Earth Day!

Anyone who either knows me in person or has read this blog knows that I am a hippy at heart.... not a "pot smoking, Birkenstock wearing, Grateful Dead listening" sort of hippy, but a " be mindful of Mother Nature, think about how your choices affect others and the world around you and DON'T LITTER DAMN IT!" sort of hippy. So of course I can't let Earth Day go by without an acknowledgement of some sort....I think is a great idea, but we shouldn't limit it to just one day of the year so I'm hearby challenging each every person who reads this to a year long challenge. Ready?

I propose that each and every one of us vows to pick up at least 5 pieces of trash on EVERY SINGLE run we do for an entire year. That's it.. it's super easy, and if we're on a group run we can challenge each and every person on that run to also pick up 5 pieces...and you see how this could spread, right? It drives me crazy to see discarded wrappers, water bottles, beer cans and cigarette butts on the trails or roads, wouldn't it be great to run on trails and not see signs of human habitation? It's just a little thing that we all can do that can make such a huge difference.

The picture I posted is from a trash clean up day the Lawrence Trail Hawks did last spring at the Clinton Lake trails, we hauled out bags and bags of trash... and have another clean up day on tap in a few weeks. Next year I would love to see that a planned clean up day is unnecessary because we've taken the litter out bit by bit all year. Will you take the challenge? Or puss out?


(and I might also be a "really, really want dreads" sort of hippy... but keep that to yourself)