100km Plog

WHAT HAPPENED ON THAT DAY, 10 YEARS AGO?

 

On Sept 29, 2011, I did my first social media post about picking up trash while running.

This means that Sept 29, 2021, will mark the 10th anniversary of that post.

Seems like a cool thing to celebrate, huh?

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I won't go into too much detail, but I was running along the country lanes of my home village in the UK (Hartfield, East Sussex - where Winnie-the-Pooh comes from!) on the way to the train station.

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The road doesn't have a footpath, so not many people would walk along it, which might explain all the trash I saw in the hedges. Fast-food packaging, drinks etc.. the usual stuff, thrown out of cars.

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It was then that I thought.. "hang on, if I don't pick it up, then who will?". So I did.

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I had done it a few times on that route, when I thought.. "hmm, perhaps I should tweet about it?"

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So that is the story behind my first social media post on plogging. 'Plogging' wasn't a word at that time, so I just used the #keepbritaintidy hashtag.

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FROM PLOGGER TO DAILY PLOGGER

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I carried on plogging as many others do; occasionally.

But it soon turned into a passion; on my runs to the train station, I would do it each time.

Just a handful as I had a train to catch! 

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After a while, I started posting about it more. Not each time. But definitely more frequently.

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It was in 2019 that I made the commitment to do it EVERY time I ran, biked or swam (anything I put up onto Strava), and also to really make it part of my posts on Instagram (www.instagram.com/wayeoflife/).

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HOW I CAME UP WITH THE IDEA OF PLOGGING 100KM!

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I am not sure when exactly, but I remember seeing that the amazing Plogman of India had set a World Record in plogging for the longest continuous plog. He did 50km.

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I thought to myself - I could do that! So I decided to contact the Guinness World Records team and apply for a new world record in continuous plogging. Plogman of India had used goldenbooks to set the record, but I wanted to use GWR as it is the established one.

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My application put some rules to help make it clearly defined: 

To identify that it is continuously plogging; 60 pieces of litter an hour (so averaging a piece a minute - in reality, it would be way more than this but then it is definitely not running with a bit of litter collecting)

To identify that it is a real jog/run: an average of 10min/km over the whole distance. That doesn't seem like a lot, but plogging is slower than running, but this way I definitely need to jog it.

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I also said that the distance I wanted to do was 67km (for my DOB.. 1967).. I wanted it to be more than 50km, but not much more so that it could easily be beaten; the more times it is beaten the more awareness is raised.

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But the application was rejected. It wasn't exact enough. I did try and revise the definition but it just wasn't something the GWR committee were keen on.

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I decided not to pursue it and after a while after I heard about the epic FKT (fastest known time) Damian Hall set. He not only set a crazy time for 431km (!!!!!) but plogged along the way. I think this is where the GWR were correct in their concern.. he plogged the whole way, but it is a continuous plog? It is a very grey area. But regardless; definitely check out www.youtube.com/watch?v=sUgpAL87E5Q - incredible ambassador for not just running, but also the environment.

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So I parked the idea.

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Until I thought.. hang on.. 10years as a plogger is something to celebrate!

 

But how? Well, instead of giving up on the World Record, why not just do it anyway?

And as it is not going for a record, but as a celebration, the distance doesn't matter.

 

So that is when I came up with 1000.100.10.1 

1 = 1 person's plogging story

10 = to celebrate their ten years of plogging

100 = by plogging continuously 100km (a much nicer round number than 67 hahaha)

1000 = 1000kg - I want to collect 1000kg of trash.

 

1000kg of trash?!!! - this is where I need help from others. I am not saying I will pick up 1000kg in the 100km, but with the help of others picking up trash on the day then I could. I will talk more about this later on.

So how much trash will I pick up? Well, I am confident I will personally get something like 100kg even if it is just cans etc. With a bit of luck that could easily increase to 300kg if I find things like rubber tyres, shopping trolleys, bikes, mattresses etc! who knows. But if people join in (virtually or in-person) on the day then we can hit that 1000kg.

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Oh gosh.. that is more of a story than I anticipated! haha

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