Day 4,206: "Plogging" away in Piedmont Park

A bunch of "ploggers" with trash bags in hand, in Piedmont Park.

It's become the norm for local rSunning stores to organize group runs throughout the month. This outing at the Phidippides running store caught my eye, however -- it would be a run that would also help cleanup nearby Piedmont Park.

Sponsored by shoe company Saucony, the run incorporates the growing trend of "plogging," basically a running fad in Sweden in which the activity's name blends that country's word "pick up" with jogging. The company this month is celebrating "The Great American Running Shop" and Phidippides was selected as the only running store in Georgia to be recognized. In turn, this event was called "The Great American Cleanup Run."

I've organized a few dozen cleanup activities on behalf of geocaching and thought this would be a good way to get in a run and help the park.

A shoe rep met us outside the running store -- he had gloves and bags for us to use. We would run the store's regular 3-mile route into the park and back.

At first getting used to plogging was a little tricky for me. I brought my own garden gloves to pick up trash and I immediately remembered how much I hate wearing gloves while running. I also realized that you had to be a little careful if you stopped to pick up some trash on the sidewalk since we were running in a group. Thankfully no one had any collisions!

There were plenty of little pieces of trash in the bowl of the park where the recent Peachtree Road Race had its post-race gathering. Lots of bottle tops from water bottles, for example and other small things. It reminded me of how in the Marine Corps Marathon they ask you to be careful with your trash on the route -- after the race Marines go through and pick up every piece of litter on the course.

The run gave me an opportunity to try Saucony's most recent edition of their Kinvara shoe, the Kinvara 9. I ran in Kinvara 5s when I trained for the 2014 Marine Corps Marathon -- they were my first low-drop shoe. I enjoyed them immensely but really did not like stepping on rocks with them.

The newer version, however, was a real joy. They are now cushioned with Saucony's Everun, basically the same cushioning in the Saucony Zealot ISO shoes that I've worn the last few years.

I tested out the Kinvara 9s by deliberately running on small rocks that I encountered on the park paths. I also ran them straight through mud, something I cannot do in Nike's Epic React Flyknit, because those shoes become extremely slippery in mud or water.

The group I was with made our way back to the newer part of the park, Piedmont Park Commons and then ran under Piedmont Avenue along the unimproved portion of the Beltline trail. Here there was plenty of trash to pick up.

Back at Phidippides, we posed for pictures with our trash and the Saucony rep even had recycled shoes and flowers for us to create a unique flower planter. It was a great way to get out in the humid morning and get a run done!

Time: 8 a.m.
Temp: 72 degrees
Gear: Technical T-shirt, short (CS yellow), shorts, Saucony Kinvara 9.

My plogging haul wearing the Saucony Kinvara 9.

My 14th Peachtree Road Race

My 14th Peachtree Road Race.

After I ran the Snickers Marathon in March I worked on a 10K training program to increase my speed. I largely abandoned the program after I had to start training for Berlin (7 weeks ago) but even in the speed workouts I aimed to keep my 10K speed at a 7:15/mile pace.

This year I wasn't sure what I would do about the Peachtree Road Race, as it falls in the middle of my Berlin training and ever since I developed a stress fracture running in a half marathon before the 2016 Chicago Marathon, I've been wary of running in lots of races.

Still, the Peachtree is a pretty iconic race and I felt like I would be able to run it well if not smoothly going on 55 miles a week.

Race morning I didn't eat very much and had hoped to find water to eat a gel before the race started. But I didn't encounter any water and ended up taking a gel right after Mile 1 in the race. When the race started I didn't get any faster than about 7:30/mile, a little slower than I'd been training but it felt ok given the effort so I didn't worry about it. My splits for the first three miles went 7:30/7:31 and 7:23.

On Mile 4 up Cardiac Hill I was pretty amazed I didn't lose much time, running that mile in 7:48. Mile 5 was the same, 7:46. In previous years I would lose more time and the effort felt challenging but not like in previous years in which I hated being on those hills. In the last mile I gave myself a steady effort and ran it in 7:11.

After having run the last part of the course recently I knew that kicking at 10th Street and Piedmont would be too far away so I settled on a section known as "Yoshino Cherry" as there is a Pokemon GO Pokestop there. At that point I ran my final kick in three parts, each time going a little faster and wondering if anyone would pass me at that point. It didn't happen and I finished in 47:02, which is my second fastest course time in 14 tries.

All in all I felt pretty good about the race. I enjoyed wearing the Nike Epic React flyknit shoes -- I saw a lot of people wearing the Nike Zoom Vaporfly 4%s today and I was in a real dilemma as to whether I would burn the precious limited miles on one of my own five pairs of Vaporflys (my first one only lasted 229 miles as opposed to the traditional 500 miles I can get on most running shoes) and I'm glad I didn't.

I feel like the Epic Reacts are a better tactical shoe in shorter races than the Vaporflys, especially on hard hilly surfaces. I don't like the way the Vaporflys tend to squish in my feet on grades and the added bounce of the Epic Reacts on hills give me a psychological boost -- it feels like I am saving energy with each bounce up a hill. I also was glad that I didn't have to burn those miles wearing the Vaporflys walking about a mile from my drop off on Piedmont Avenue to the race and another mile home afterward.

Still, I could have benefited from hitting my 7:15/mile pace right out the gate with the Vaporflys and it will always be a tug of war in my mind.

Time: 7 a.m.
Temp: 72 degrees
Gear: Technical Tank (Pactimo/Nuun Hydration), shorts, Nike Epic React flyknit.