Plogging Brings Community Together
On a beautiful morning the day before the 2023 TCS New York City Marathon, our group of ploggers met up at the NYRR RUNCENTER featuring the New Balance Run Hub on 57th Street in Manhattan for two reasons: sustainability and running.
Plogging combines the Swedish term “plocka upp” meaning to pick up with “jogging.” NYRR hosts free plogging events before each of the three marquee races: the TCS New York City Marathon, the United Airlines NYC Half, and the RBC Brooklyn Half. Participants of all paces are welcome!
The energy that Saturday morning was palpable with activities near the RUNCENTER. Crowds of Abbott Dash to the Finish Line 5K finishers enjoyed the sunny weather. New Balance was giving out customized singlets with peoples’ names or phrases printed for free. You could feel the excitement around New York City as the largest marathon in the world was going to take place the next day.
Picture all this passion poured into an important and meaningful activity: the annual TCS New York City Marathon weekend plogging event led by NYRR coaches along a 3-mile route. Attendance this year was more than double that of last year.
The group in front of the NYRR RUNCENTER featuring the New Balance Run Hub.
Among the group was Tina Muir (she/her), a former elite marathoner, climate activist, and author of Becoming a Sustainable Runner, a practical guide for runners of all abilities and backgrounds who want to take meaningful action to protect our planet through their love of the sport. Tina, who organizes numerous plogging events, said, “On Saturday, we proved that [plogging is] growing, it’s important, and it plants seeds. It reminds us that we do matter, our actions may not change the world, but they can help build something.”
Tina Muir plogging along the sidewalk in midtown Manhattan.
We filled our compostable trash bags with litter we picked up throughout the route and although that was the main impact of the event, what endures is a community brought together. Photos were taken, conversations were had, and memories were made around our common goals to clean up our planet and to fight climate change together.
We were also joined by Jake Fedorowski (they/them), a gender activist who wrote, The Guide to Non-Binary Inclusion in Running to assist race directors toward creating more inclusive events that affirm all identities and encourages every participant; combining their love for running and activism.
Other participants included a French couple, an ultra-marathoner, a distance running coach, and running influencer Kofuzi who said they picked up mostly cigarette butts, bottle caps, and receipts and that it didn’t matter who picked up the most trash. “It’s not a contest. Everybody wins.”
Group photo in Times Square.
