If you do a quick search of ‘plogging’ online you will soon see videos of confident runners energetically sprinting from one piece of rubbish to the next.
As a nature lover and frequent runner, I was keen to get on board and try out a bit of ‘plogging’ for myself; it made perfect sense to make my favourite workout more eco-friendly! Like many of you, I had some obvious worries. Would it take away from my training? Would I feel too self-conscious? As I’m not exactly the most confident runner, the latter was probably my biggest concern but I decided to give it a go anyway.
I headed out on one of the first sunny evenings of the year, when I knew people would have been out on the canal paths and parks…and sadly I guessed this would mean an abundance of litter. I used a back pack lined with a rubbish bag so I didn’t look too unusual and popped on a pair of thick, protective gloves. I won’t lie, I did plan a route that I hoped would encounter as few people as possible and I set off.
It didn’t take long after entering my local park to come across my first find. I hurriedly popped the empty plastic bottle in my bag before anyone could see and carried on jogging.
I soon settled into my run and I found myself heading to places likely to be litter hot-spots. I felt a sense of pride every time I rescued a piece of rubbish from the floor. Along the canal path I couldn’t help thinking that every crisp packet or plastic bottle I put in my bag was one less piece of rubbish that would end up floating along on the canal.
What surprised me most about my run was how focussing on finding my next piece of litter took my attention off how far or how long I had been running for. Prior to this run I’d had a lot of time off training so instead of thinking about how much fitness I had lost and how tired I felt, I was just concentrating on my goal of finding litter.
Although I might have resembled something similar to a video game character erratically running around collecting as many gold coins as I could (or in this case empty plastic bottles, cans and the infamous capri sun packets), I really didn’t mind. Picking up litter felt totally normal by then end of my run and all that really mattered was that it was doing something good for the environment!
So why not give plogging a go yourself? Or plog with a group of friends if you don't fancy going alone. The satisfaction you have after going on a plog will be even greater than an average run, because not only is it benefiting you, but also the environment and your community!