Plogging – The New Type of Exercise

Recently, people in America have been partaking in “the Swedish fitness craze” called plogging. For those who have not heard what it is, it is a type of exercise that involves jogging and picking up trash. All a jogger needs is their running shoes and a bag (or just their hands) to plog. What plogging does not only promotes on cleaning the environment, but also gets people to exercise at the same time.

To read more into plogging, click on the link below.

Article: ‘Ploggin’ is the Swedish fitness craze for people who want to save the planet. It’s making its way to the U.S.

When comparing plogging to Pick’n Run’s motto (cleaning the world one run at a time), they are exactly the same.

Trash at the ThunderCloud Subs Turkey Trot Race

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. Continue Reading →

What type of trash are Pick’n Run solutions good for?

When explaining the Pick’n Run concept, one of the first comments we get is that there is too much trash to pick up.  When they say this, they are envisioning what you see in the picture below, which they think they have to pick up.

However, we are not focusing on finding a solution to pick up large piles of trash that you see in the picture above. There are other companies and solutions that will be able to focus on doing that.  Rather, we are initially focusing on helping runners pick up the odd trash pieces that you see on your runs, as you see in the picture below (which is trash we have picked up on one of our runs). The plastic cup. The beer bottle.

In addition, we aren’t focusing on the “nasty” trash that is gooey and yucky.  For the most part, the cups, the bottles, the candy wrappers are dry (we are developing gloves that people can use to pick up the trash, and put it in a Pick’n run backpack).

 

Picked up Trash during the Rocky Mountain Half-Marathon

On August 12th, I got to run the Rocky Mountain Half-Marathon in Estes Park, Colorado while visiting my grandma and aunt. What makes this half marathon different from the other half marathon races I ran is that it is cup free; instead of using plastic cups of water or power drink to give to runners, each runner get to fill their own Hydropouch (that is provided with the registration) to fill up on water or a power drink, like in this image.

They want to promote on being green and not worry about trash being left in the park. I figured why not run with one of my prototype bags incase there is trash along the way. And sure enough, I found 4 pieces of trash and another Hydropouch between miles 5 and 9. I felt proud of picking them up and completing the race at 2:19:23 (which isn’t my personal record, but still felt proud). You can see the trash below, along with scenic photos I took during the race.

Yosemite Half Marathon, used the backpack – prototype 1

A month ago, my daughter (Naya), my sister (Betsy), and I ran the Yosemite Half Marathon.  It was the 1st half-marathon for my daughter (she did wonderfully), and the 4th half-marathon for my sister, and my 7th half-marathon.  My sister and I had run the Yosemite Half Marathon last year (when it was in October), and we wanted to run it again.

This time, I ran a race for the first time with one of the Pick’n Run backpack prototypes….the first prototype.  I have used the prototype on shorter, practice runs, but never in a race and not at the half marathon distance (13.1 miles).

I was able to pick up trash during the race, put it in the backpack, and then easily empty the trash at various trash locations, which tended to be at various mile markers.  See pictures below of the race, and the backpack usage.

 

Running is now a destination sport

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.

 

Exercise to Improve your Mind

In January, Otago researchers had conduct a test on 52 tertiary students “to test the oft-held belief that the brains of young adults in their prime might not benefit as much as older people from regular sustained exercise” and what they found was evidences “that regular exercise is a way to sharpen our cognitive ability as young adults.” Running for a couple of miles for 5 days would be an example.

For more information about this research and what was found, here is the link to the article: Study Indicates Exercise Sharpens the Young Adult Brain

 

Run Daren Run

Daren Wendell has a mission that requires great will and focus to be accomplished. That mission is to run 100 marathons in 100 days (a marathon a day) in the United States through a route that he designed (from Santa Monica Pier, California to times Square, New York).

To follow Daren through his adventure to run through the United States, go to this website or go on Facebook to see his runs :

Run Daren Run

Daren Wendell on Facebook

[ Update 2015-02-22: Daren has run a marathon+ for 53 days straight, amounting to 1,533 miles run; has currently raised $77,406 for Active Water ]

A Runner Running for Peace

People, there are ways to create peace between nations around the world. This one is among the toughest mission to achieve, but the long term reward is worth it. Reza is a runner who is attempting to create peace just through running. From land to water, this man will do what ever it takes to achieve his mission for world peace.

Run With Reza

Think about what this man is doing that we have not thought about doing for peace. He is a very good example on taking a common idea (sports, activities, etc.) to the next level. So far, he ran the borders of the US (over 11, 720 miles) in 202 consecutive days. His mission is to run 198 countries and paddle across the ocean (I don’t know which one). This epic journey will take a long time, but he has the spirit and support to achieve the impossible. Let us do the same thing: achieve the impossible.

Easy Running is a Moderate Exercise

What is the first thought when you hear “moderate exercise?”

Do you think of hard, intensive workout or something else?

Well, if you think it is hard, intensive workout, well, you are just overestimating yourself. Amy Rushlow explains in this article, called “How Hard is Moderate Exercise? Not as Hard as You Might Think”, on how moderate exercise is actually much simpler than it sounds.

After reading the article, has your thoughts changed about moderate exercise? If so, good. If not, here are some examples that you can do as a moderate exercise: walking for an hour, running at a relaxing pace for about an hour, or even riding your bike around your neighborhood. Exercising is just simple to do. Spread out the word to have people to exercise better without having to  feel that you have to go hard. Hope you found your exercise that is moderate.