Teach By Demonstration & Learn From Example

I can not stand runners that trash the roads they run on. Any suggestion on how to react? How to deal with them? What to say? (What about those sticky gels runners use while running for example? Can they make the packets itself sticky so runners can not toss them after they're done?)

One of the reasons you and I, noble runner, enjoy our outside treks rather than indoors on a tredmill or an indoor track is that we are treated to the sights and sounds of our environs. As such, many of us find ourselves embracing the environmental credo, which promotes low impact living and the promotion of action geared towards cleaning up the planet.

On long runs we carry our energy snacks with us, and save the wrappers for proper disposal. It would be easy to throw these wrappers to the ground, adding to whatever litter may already be polluting the planet's surface, but we make the conscious, morally right and silent act of carrying the refuse with us in our defiance against those who couldn't be bothered.

So, what are we to do when we observe a fellow runner who litters? How should you react when, as you make your way through the highways and byways of your town, you come across another runner who bites open a Gu Pack or energy bar and throws the garbage to the ground?

My advice is that you begin playing the "See How They Like It" game. When this happens immediately change course and run over to retrieve the discarded rubbish. Then, the race is on! Follow the litterbug on his or her running course until he or she returns to his or her home (or place of origin).

The tricky part of this game is to avoid being accused of "stalking", but if you can manage it and you're reasonably sure this person is near the finish, sprint to pass him or her, and drop the trash on his or her own property exclaiming "How do you like it?" as loudly as your oxygen depleted lungs can muster.

Some might argue that this is a wasted effort teetering on the dangerous "wild side", but I like to think of it as a form of education. "Teach by demonstration, learn from example", I always say (well, okay, I don't always say it... that would be kinda silly if spoke only in such monosyllabic phrases).

Just remember to keep on running as fast as you can!

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