What’s better than a trail run through a pretty state park? How about a bike race the next day?
The Legend – so named due to its location being Sleepy Hollow State Park – has been a Saturday morning trail run for many years. New for this year was a Sunday morning bike race on their trails, and nearly a hundred more people signed up to do either that race, or take on a Saturday and Sunday event for a special prize. At the finish line both days was water, chips, and cookies.
Saturday was run day – 5-miler, 10-miler, and half marathon offered. It was already warm at sunrise, with high humidity. Having run the half marathon here myself, I know some parts had to be really tough, and sure enough, conditions took their toll on the runners. Still, just about everyone powered through, and I’m sure they were grateful for the cold water and salty snacks at the finish.
Sunday was the bike race, with one, two, or three 8-mile loops available. With overcast skies and cooler temps, we were all more comfortable.
Last year, with a schedule conflict and no volunteers, I set up an unattended station and hoped for the best. It worked out well, so I felt confident I could handle this year’s race solo. With runners coming in steadily there was no “rush period” and I stayed on top of things easily.
Sunday’s race was small enough that again, one person working Zero Waste was sufficient. The only little hiccup was moving the station a couple of parking lots down. No big deal, although somehow I fractured a spar on my canopy taking it down. Gotta be more careful!
As an improvement for next time there’s a hot race, I could bring various cloths and small towels collected from other events that could be soaked in ice water to cool off finishers.
Once again, we kept over 99 percent of the event waste out of the landfill, and overall waste produced continues to decrease. Good trends to keep going!
Happy Planet Running 