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.