Upstate Classic

I think all of us who participated at the Upstate Classic 5K, 13.1M, & 26.2M had a great time and even while it was different, it was wonderful to be among my fellow runners for a little while. Josh Merlis and his team put on a great event and they should be proud of how well it turned out.  I was great to see friends on the course, Kevin, as well has the proud pictures and Strava posts of William, Nick, Jakob, and others. Thanks to the volunteers like Brendan and Tracy and a special thanks to Laura for the great action shots around mile 12. Daniel, Laurie, and I had a great time. 

Now I am going to complain for one second.  I know we all have different fueling needs when running. I get it. I have bonked before. It’s not great.  Being one of the back of the pack runners, I often come across the refuse of gel or other fuel wrappers on the ground.  In the past, I would pick it up, and throw it in my pocket because of a “leave no trace” belief and also because it’s gross for either the adjacent homeowners or Josh and his team of have to police the course for out trash after the race.  I didn’t this time because...and do I have to say this...but we are in the middle of a pandemic and I don’t want to grab anything from the ground that has been in your sweaty hands or near your mouth where you were exerting yourself too much to clean up after yourself.  

Can we, as runners, joggers, “yoggers”, hobby joggers, or walkers with purpose please show a little bit of common sense when it comes to our trash and can we promise not to leave messes for other people to clean up when the clean up could expose someone to something that could be deadly to them?  I am not asking you to wear a mask (you should) or to believe that COVID-19 is more dangerous than influenza (it is), all I am asking you to do is to not litter trash on the side of the road, trash from your sweaty hands that was around your disgusting maw while you were breathing heavily over a USATF certified distance.

It’s the bare minimum of being a functional member of society.

HThanks for coming to my #NedTalk.