Going green.

It's Thursday and today's Take it and Run Thursday topic at Runners' Lounge is Running Green.

While running is a physically high-impact activity, environmentally, it's probably one of the lower ones. You don't need a lot of equipment to run. No maple bats, titanium drivers, or head-to-toe padding. No stadiums or arenas that must be cooled or heated. No fields that need complex irrigation systems or rinks that need constant freezing.

We runners need a pair of good shoes, a few cold and hot weather outfits and maybe a watch. And we need the great outdoors.

OK, sometimes we need the treadmill. You got me there. And some runners need a track. Oh, and when we run in races, we need many paper cups at our water stops and mountains of refreshments afterward, a lot of which is most likely wasted.

But in general running has a fairly low impact on the environment. We can make it lower.

• We can recycle our running shoes and other running gear.
• We can find trails and routes that don't require us to drive to them.
• We can run less on the treadmill.
• We can carry our own water bottles during races (and we can remember to recycle any plastic bottles that we use).
• We can pick up litter when we see it around.

And we can do things outside of our running lives, like bring our own reusable bags to the grocery store, pack lunches and store leftovers in reusable containers instead of plastic bags or plastic wrap, and buy local and organic foods when possible.

How else can we run green? Feel free to share your ideas. I'd love to read them!

And green can be cool and friendly-like. And green can be big like an ocean, or important like a mountain, or tall like a tree. ~ It's Not Easy Being Green