Every year I watch as groups of runners go up our road and turn around and come back for various reasons and events. On Sunday April 15, it was the Hart Half/Run for Rural Medicine, put on by the Prince George Road Runners running club.
As usual, I sat with my dog and had a coffee in the sun and analyzed the different running techniques and body types participating. I watched as one middle-aged looking gentleman came running by, refuelling himself with some type of nutrient in a package.
My jaw fell open (luckily I did not have a mouthful of coffee) as he discarded his empty container into the ditch in front of my house like he was a Boston marathon runner throwing away a paper cup he had just snatched from a volunteer's hand. I retrieved the refuse and found it to be a foil container for a chocolate gel shot without the top part. That was probably in our neighbour's ditch. It was far from biodegradable and I was quite annoyed at the man in the red shirt and dark bottoms wearing number 1186 and thought I should somehow let him know that throwing garbage on our street or any other street in any town is an indifferent and thoughtless act. Since it only weighs about three grams or so, I hardly think it would have proven to be cumbersome enough to hinder his chances of placing higher in the race standings. The saying goes "if you packed it in, pack it out."
David Webb
Prince George
