Multitasking My Run

Most Saturday mornings, Hubby and the kids do cartoons and breakfast, while I work out my weeks’ accumulated stress and sedentary achiness. 

Today, I ran a favorite route: a hilly road featuring a nice smooth sidewalk, stately homes, and a well- kept Trustees park overlooking the river, and Boston beyond.  

And then, there was trash. 

Yeah, I run past plenty of it, like discarded nips and water bottles, wrappers and coffee cups and such. I tend to wrinkle my nose and wonder When is someone going to pick that up? Such a shame!

But just as I crested the hill, a huge sheet of brown wrapping paper floated across the sidewalk, and I couldn’t run past it, because I ran into it. 

Disgusted, I bunched it up and tucked it under my arm, determined to toss it at the riverfront park where I knew there were garbage cans. 

For some reason, though, once I’d picked up one piece of trash, I couldn’t ignore the rest. For a quarter- mile or so, I ran and stopped, ran and stopped, and collected this handful: 

Proud of my civic- minded effort, I deposited the mess in the appropriate receptacle and went on my merry way, back up the hill towards home. 

But… I could no longer ignore the litter that seemed to be strewn everywhere along this otherwise beautiful stretch. 

So, I decided to pick it up. 

No, I didn’t pick it ALL up. There was just too much! And, I’m sorry, I couldn’t bring myself to touch any abandoned baggies of dog poo.  

Yes, I couldn’t WAIT to wash (scrub, disinfect) my hands. 

But damn! Look what I accomplished:

Not bad for a spontaneous decision in favor of the common good! Especially one that took so little time and effort. 

(Of note, just when I was wondering how I could possibly hold any more garbage, I found this grocery bag…. Someone up there really wanted the street cleaned!)