Over the years my running goals have had common themes. Lose weight has quite often been one, run faster and/or further is nearly always another and occasionally I’ve identified a challenge which pushes me outside of my comfort zone and towards achieving something for the first time. In 2023 my main objective is just to enjoy whichever sports I play, and although some of those previous goals could help me achieve that, running faster or even achieving something new doesn’t necessarily equal having more fun. Quantifying fun is always tricky and whilst I might start journalling again to track that, I’m going to look elsewhere for my 2023 goal.
Interestingly a topic I’ve been considering for a few weeks is also a topic covered in the latest edition of Runner’s World, which is being a greener runner. The article is by Damian Hall, who is the co-founder of The Green Runner, whose members pledge to improve on one of their Four Pillars. One of those is how you speak up, which I guess I’m doing with this post, and the other three are around the three areas where runners contribute the most emissions – how to eat, how you travel and how you kit up.
Despite the fact that I would like to lose weight next year, I won’t be making any pledges around what I eat. In part that’s because I have already made several greener changes in recent years, most recently substituting cow’s milk for oat milk. However, when I tried to entirely give up meat and dairy in 2019, I went too far the other way, losing weight far too quickly and regularly feeling physically drained. A more balanced approach with an eye towards a greener diet is a more accurate description of what I’m aiming for next year.
Travel is a tricky one for me to commit to as well, since I’ve already signed up for two Marathons next year, one of which is in York and the other is in Connemara in Ireland. But both of these are holidays for me as much as they are running events, and I very much intend to keep holidays as part of my life moving forwards. I will spend more time looking at the greenest options for those trips, but my bigger focus will be on local commuting. Whilst I generally walk any journey less than 2 miles, there are a number of journeys longer than that where I could cycle instead of driving. Last Summer was a step in the right direction, but I can do a lot more next year.
The area where I’m setting my primary goal is in regards to my kit. It is a very ambitious objective, but it isn’t impossible that I could go the entirety of 2023 without buying any sports clothing, shoes or equipment. The only exceptions to this would be anything which can make a big difference in other aspects of becoming greener. For example, it would be easier to justify buying a cycling rucksack if that was going to make the difference between me riding or driving to work. I do actually have a couple of rucksacks already, but if a similar scenario presents itself and I don’t already own the necessary kit, then those are the occasions when I can invest.
Historically these types of purchases have only accounted for a small percentage of my overall running purchases. The majority are either replacements for shoes I have deemed to have reached the end of their life, or just the allure of having new kit to wear. On the latter point, a lot of this is vanity. It’s nice to have new kit for a running event rather than being pictured in kit you’ve worn many times before, but if that kit is still perfectly functional, why replace it? There are things I’d rather spend my money on.
Kit that is no longer perfectly functional is a bit of a different challenge. I could get better at repairing my kit. Last year I threw out a pair of otherwise very good running tights because I ripped a hole in the knee after falling over. Had I asked, my Mum probably would have sewn the hole up and whilst some of the stretch in the fabric would have been lost, they would still have been fine for the majority of runs.
There have however been occasions where I’ve worn through huge sections of the sole of my shoes to the point where it creates an imbalance when I run, and that type of issue you can’t really repair. What you can do however is ask whether you actually need to buy a replacement pair. Whilst I wouldn’t recommend ever going down to only one pair of shoes, you don’t need the perfect shoes for every run. Indeed, a lot of my runs are on a mixture of terrains or at a mixture of paces, meaning there is no perfect shoe for the whole run. If I find myself with one fewer pair of road shoes, why can’t that be an incentive to do more trail running, or get on my bike instead?
My drawers and cupboards are already packed with running kit. To be honest it would be a struggle to fit more in, so I’m particularly well stocked for this challenge. Given the financial savings on offer, I have plenty of motivation beyond being greener too. But ultimately the great attraction of running is that it can be a pretty sustainable activity, depending how you do it. I’ve been doing okay so far, but I can do a lot, lot better.
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