Don’t Trash the Trails!
After a few run-ins with way too much litter on the trail, I was inspired to write an essay about it for Ultrarunning Magazine.
You can read it in the September issue, which should be in your mailbox by now.
You’ve got a few hours to kill so you find your way to a favorite trail. You lace up your shoes, grab a water bottle, and disappear down the single track. Fir needles and dirt crunch under your feet as the troubles you took home from work slip your mind. You relax into the run and your breaths come easier.
Then you round a bend and see something crumpled on the ground next to the trail: the spent wrapper of an energy gel. Instinctively, you touch the pocket in your shorts and feel for the gels you’ve packed along for the run. You no longer feel so much a part of nature as you feel a part of a dysfunctional family.
If you are too cheap to subscribe to Ultrarunning Magazine (or perhaps are not into the whole ultrarunning thing), you can read the article on the Western States 100 Latest News page.
Be sure to follow the instructions!