Running is now a destination sport

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This morning I received an email from Homeaway (part of the sharing economy initiative — a competitor to AirBnb, and they also run VRBO, which has been around for awhile).  The email mentioned that Homeaway is now “the Official Accommodations Provider of Destination Races‘ Wine Country Half Marathon Series”.

The Wine Country Half Marathons sound fun, with half marathons taking place in Napa (California), Santa Barbara (California), Virginia, Oregon, and more.  On their web site, they highlight the benefits of participating in a Destination Race:

  • Scenery
  • Charity
  • Camaraderie (or is it Comraderie??)
  • Rewards
  • Celebration
  • Music
  • Culinary (for a Wine Country theme, I would have thought this would have been a higher priority, not 7th in the priority list 🙂
  • Competition

The destination – theme half marathon series is furthered with what Vacation Races is doing — which has a motto of “run where you play”.  For accommodations, Vacation Races takes a different approach than Destination Races.  Vacation Races focuses on providing campgrounds as opposed to housing or hotels.

Note: I have run Vacation Race’s Yosemite Half Marathon, and will run the race again in May with Martin (son), Naya (daughter), Betsy (sister), and David (brother-in-law).  It is a popular race, and has been sold out since beginning of the yer.

This is fun to see running taking a destination – theme approach. No longer are events and groups of events simply a run for winning, but an experience.  [ Note: In the golf industry 20 years ago, real estate developers and economic development groups did the same thing — building multiple golf courses in one place — to create a destination rather than just one golf course — Cabo, Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail, and more ]

We think this destination – theme trend is excellent, and something that might lend itself to more runners picking up trash and cleaning the environment they run in.

 

Article: Adidas creates swimwear range made from recycled ocean plastic as part of partnership with Parley for the Oceans

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On July 14, 2016, I did a post about the upcoming problem of the amount of trash becoming greater than the population of fish with the current rate of disposed trash in the ocean. Cleaning up is one way, but what to do with it? Well recently, Adidas partnered up with Parley for Oceans to save marine life and clean water by creating swimwear range made from recycled ocean plastic, such as fishing nets.

This reminds me of a conversation that my dad and I had over the Christmas break while running at my grandma’s house in Colorado Springs.  We discussed using old t-shirts for building the backpacks.  My dad knows someone that has a business of taking someone’s old t-shirts and creating underwear for them (Kori Jock – La Vie en Orange). We can possibly do that with one of the designs of the Pick’n Run backpacks.

If you want to read on about the partnership between Adidas and Parley for Oceans, and their swimwear products, click on the link.

Article: What’s the big idea? Calling on innovators to get rid of Phoenix trash

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Do you have what it takes to end waste through technology?  The city of Phoenix is looking to find ways to improve their trash management.  One way is their business / startup competition:

The winning idea idea will win $20,000 to go towards starting a business based around your idea.   As well, the winner will have the ability to pilot their idea in the City of Phoenix (i.e. a pilot opportunity).

It is interesting to see that the competition, the Cisco IoT Challenge, is sponsored by an information technology company (Cisco), a cable company (Cox Communications), and the Arizona Institute for Digital Progress.

Contestants submitted their ideas by February 4th, and pitches were given yesterday, Saturday, February 11th.   From now until March 23rd participants will “Hack at Home”, where they will develop their minimal viable products.  They will be supported by online mentoring.  Final pitches will be March 23rd.

Time to Pimp up for Picking up Trash

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There are invisible heroes, walking around the streets that you may not know about. They are the catadores. They go around cities, picking up trash off the streets and into their carroça, and then selling the trash at a very low price for a form of currency. Mundano, a graffiti artist and TED Fellow, created a project called “Pimp My Carroça” in order to promote the catadores through art and community.  He wants people to recognize these heroes in not only Brazil, but around the world. Click on this link to listen to the whole video about Mundano’s inspiration in forming this worldwide project.

His project is actually very similar to what Pick’n Run is trying to do.

Giving e-Trash a Second Chance

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Isidore Electronics Recycling, a recycling company and social enterprise, believes in giving e-trash a second chance. They have been creating jobs for incarcerated people, while at the same time trying to reduce the amount of e-trash that is increasingly going to the landfill (15% of waste is electronics, but 75% of the toxics produced in the landfill are from electronics). Their mission is “to save the planet and give back to society at the same time”

For more information about this company and what they do, click this link.

Star Wars Sculptures from Tech Trash

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With Star Wars 7 and Rogue One out in theaters and soon onto DVD, there is more hype among the Star Wars fans across the world. There is one artist named Gabriel Dishaw who has dedicated himself in saving disposed tech by creating Star Wars sculptures. His goal is “to inspire people to think differently about waste, and hopefully influence them to take action.” You can find his sculptures on his Instagram and more information about his creations on the CBC website by clicking on this link. May the force be with you always.

Trash Into Graffiti

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Leaving trash around doesn’t look appealing to the public eye. Its filth just makes any area that you are in not look clean. Now here is the question: how can we turn trash into a form of street art that actually is publicly appealing? Well this Portuguese street artist named Artur Bordalo answers the question with his own monumental sculptures to not only use the mountains of waste he collects, but to raise awareness on the global’s unsustainable garbage production. From a grizzly bear to a skunk, he shows his art work on the streets of Portugal for the public to observe.

To see the interview with Artur Bordalo and to look at his artwork, click on this link: https://streetart360.net/2016/12/19/bordalo-ii-an-artist-turns-trash-into-street-art-masterpieces/

Pokemon Go is Having a Large Impact on Communities; Can it Impact Trash Cleanup?

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How many of you play the new Pokemon Go app game? I bet the majority of you who own it, play it every hour and day to catch those digital creatures in areas within your community that you may or may not have visited before. What if I told you that local businesses, animal shelters (only the Muncie Animal Shelter so far), and national parks are starting to take advantage of this game to promote business, exercise with dogs, and exploration for nature’s beauty. Very recently made articles explain how the benefits Pokemon Go bring to the community through exploring and exercising of the consumer.

Pokemon Go is Driving Insane Amounts of Sales at Small Local Businesses. Here’s How it Works

Animal Shelter Wants Pokemon Go Players to Walk Dogs

National Park Service Video: Go #FindYourPark & catch ’em all! #Pokemon Go

Now how can Pick’n Run take this enthusiasm the consumers are having while playing Pokemon Go and get them to pick up trash whenever they go outside to play? That is a question that we are thinking about as we are developing  our PnR mobile app.

Creating High Quality, Simple Houses by Using Discarded Plastic

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Since plastic is a big part of our daily lives, it is also a common material found on streets (trash). With the Pick’n Run initiative, we would pick up the plastic (trash). That plastic can be recycled and be used in a different form.  What if I told you the plastic that you pick up from the streets could be used for something to help decrease the homelessness.

A young man, Oscar Mendez, is proving that there is a way to create decent homes for homeless people while reducing waste plastic. He is creating building blocks to build houses for homeless people.  This link leads to a video that describes his workings: This Man is Building Homes for the Homeless Using Discarded Plastic 

Here is another link to an article more about him and his works: Oscar Mendez – Providing Decent housings for the Homeless while Reducing Waste Plastic

 

A Local Hero of Trash Picking

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About three months ago, a young man named Cliff Relph finished spending 100 days picking up trash in the Knight Street Neighborhood in Vancouver.  He would walk around picking up trash that he found laying around. Locals have called him a local hero, dedicating himself to spend time outside to pick up trash that people left on the ground in the neighborhood. He found banana peels, a frying pan, and even batteries laying around. Even though it was a tough activity for him, he said he was dedicated to make a difference in his neighborhood, doing what most people wouldn’t do.

If you want to read about his 100 day adventure, click on this link to get more details: Knight St man’s 100-day trashpicking project finally over

The way he takes pictures during his trash finding neighborhood escapades is something that we are trying to make easier for people like Cliff: while a runner (or walker) finds trash during his/her runs (or walks), he/she can pin it or picture it with the PnR Mobile App. Doing so will pin point the trash’s location.  The runner (or walker) can then pick up the trash (i.e. pick it up).  The application stores that information to provide a documentary of where trash is located, if the trash has been picked up, or if others can help pick it up. [ pin it, picture it, pick it up ]