Modern Athlete Magazine Issue 112, November 2018 | Page 23

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tireless efforts.
your route, and you can even throw
in some sprints when you spot a
piece of trash to pick up – or race a
fellow plogger to reach it first. A bit
of competition always juices things
up. And don’t worry, it’s really not
that hard to run with a bag in your
hand, because you’ll mainly be
picking up light-weight items like
empty plastic bottles, chips packets
and fast-food packaging.
Of course, make sure to post pics
on social media of your plogging
activities, with #plogging, to spread
the message still further, because
the more runners who get involved
in plogging, the more litter will
be removed from the streets or
beaches. In the long run, that will
mean less plastic ending up in the
environment, notably the oceans,
where it can do massive harm for
hundreds to thousands of years to wildlife and eco-systems, not to mention
even getting into the food we eat.
PJ’S PIECE
By PJ Moses
RUNNING IS ONE
OF THE KEYS
I
hate it when people tell me there is more to life than running. I don’t necessarily
disagree with that statement, but I think it cheapens the value we put into
the activity or lifestyle. I’ve heard many people express this opinion – not just
runners or those criticising the hours spent running, but also soccer players, rugby
players, cricketers, etc. They all say it, especially when they retire, and they are
right, but they are also wrong.
We can live without the activities we engage in, that is true, but what will the
quality of such a life be? Will the competitor within us be happy, will the heritage
of the hunter inside be satisfied without the thrill of the hunt? It doesn’t even have
to be a physical activity, it can be a mental challenge, too. Just imagine if the great
mathematicians or scientists from years gone by said, “There is more to life than
this pursuit of knowledge!” Where would we as a species be?
City Runs Cleaning Up
On a related note to plogging, another brilliant initiative in the last two years
has been the official pre-race route clean-ups done at the three FNB Run
Your City events organised by Stillwater Sports in Cape Town, Joburg and
Durban. The Stillwater team puts out the call for volunteers to join its own
staffers in these clean-ups, and they have waste partners on board, such
as PETCO (the national industry body accountable for managing the PET
plastic industry’s Extended Producer Responsibility), which supplies the
rubbish bags and gloves, and a local recycling sorting agent, which takes
responsibility for the collected waste.
We use this statement as a prison for our souls. We should instead use it as fuel
for the raging fire that is a human life. We must chase greatness, we must be
bold and live epic lives. Imagine a world where we did not stop ourselves from
achieving what we were born to do. Imagine a world where we did not teach our
kids about human limitations, but taught them instead about human ingenuity and
the freedom to make their own reality. Imagine a world where we live to create
beauty for one another and not only live to create wealth. Imagine all seven billion
of us being free to fulfil our part of the great picture that the universe is creating.
This planet would not be our prison. This reality would not be all we know. There
would not be hunger. There would not be homelessness, because we would all be
home among the stars that await our arrival. Yes, there is more to life than running,
I guess, but running is the quickest route to realising that we are more than we
were told. Run to be free, and then run to be who you were born to be.
“It’s definitely not just focussed on race day, it’s also about revitalisation of
the inner city,” says Stillwater Managing Director Michael Meyer. “It’s about
getting people to understand the challenges of running inner cities, so when
we do the clean-ups, we try to align with and support organisations that are
revitalising the inner cities, like the Heritage Foundation in Johannesburg.”
Meanwhile, Janine Basson, PETCO Relations Manager, says, “We believe
these city clean-ups have an important role to play in shifting South Africa
away from a ‘take-make-dispose’ system to a circular economy, by ensuring
that valuable resources such as PET plastic bottles are diverted from landfill
and collected for recycling. PET plastic bottle recycling in South Africa is
doing really well – a 65% recycling rate was reached in 2017, which means
a total of 2.17 billion bottles were collected for recycling! Plastic touches us
all, and it is imperative that we come together to be part of true sustainability
when the opportunity presents itself, such as these clean-ups.”
The most recent clean-ups saw 60 volunteers collect 75 bags of rubbish in
Cape Town, 90 volunteers collect 145 bags in Joburg, and 30 people collect
25 bags in Durban. Take note that it rained that morning in Durban, so hats
off to the volunteers who still turned out to do their clean-up part!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: PJ is a former Cape Flats gangster who took up
running, and writing about it, when he turned his back on that dangerous
lifestyle in order to set a better example for his two young sons.
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