Running a 5 miler race (the ThunderCloud Subs Turkey Trot) in the morning and having turkey for lunch on Thanksgiving in Texas is such an enjoyable day. I flew from Houghton, Michigan to Austin, Texas to spend my Thanksgiving with my family. During my stay in Texas, I ran a race with one of our prototype backpacks — the first prototype, which I had not tested in awhile.

To start off with the morning, my dad and I ran a four mile warm-up ran from our house to the starting line. The weather was clear skies and the temperature was about 39 degrees Fahrenheit. The first two miles were smooth, until I felt some kind of irritation on my right forearm. I got to find out that the edge of the velcro hook of the excess polymer strap was stretching against my arm. I had to pause two times to readjust the excess strap to make sure the velcro won’t stretch me again for the rest of run. By the end of the race, I managed to pick up a total of ten pieces. There were more trash to pick up, but I couldn’t pick all of them while in a race.

We use a score card as a way to keep track of feedback on our prototype tests. Below are the photos of the score card and the trash that I picked up. Click on each one to enlarge them.