I accidentally "invented" (I'm not ACTUALLY the first person to think of this) a new workout I've called, "The Conservationist Run." It's where you run from piece of litter to piece of litter until you can't carry any more, then run all the way to the trash can, dump your weighted trash, and then run back to the beach, rinse and repeat.
I haven't mentioned this on my blog before because it's sort of out of the scope of my usual topics, but it is relevant this time. Over the past year I have been on a weight loss journey. I have a goal of losing 140 pounds, and I am 50 pounds into it so far.
I started out just wanting to mix up my exercise routine by running on the beach after I finished volunteering with the sea turtle hospital in Gulfport. I wasn't running too long when I realized that there was a ton of litter on the beach, so I started picking it up as I went. Eventually, I had to narrow down my efforts to only litter which posed an immediate danger to wildlife (plastic bags and entanglement dangers). I couldn't leave them with good conscience after spending all day at the sea turtle hospital caring for sick animals knowing that sea turtles frequently choke on plastic bags and die long before a rehabilitation center can save them.
So, each little peak you see in my route below is actually me running to a trash can with armfuls of plastic bags, if you look closely you can see 12 separate trips to the trash can. I think I ended up collecting about 40-50 plastic bags off this small stretch of beach as well as an umbrella, zip ties, mesh bags used for fruit, etc.
This 90 minute effort of mine is not much on its own. But, maybe if everyone picks up a little trash while running/walking outside we can make a big difference! Who else picks up litter when exercising outside? This 90 minute effort of mine is not much on its own. But, maybe if everyone picks up a little trash while running/walking outside we can make a big difference! Who else picks up litter when exercising outside?
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