| Can Race | |
December 6, 2015
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| The picking can race started. She joined this event that the NPO organized and the city government sponsored. There were about 1,000 contestants gathered from in and around the city. They, from children to the elderly, gathered in the parking lot in front of the city hall. They were categorized in three groups, adults, children, and seniors. The rules of the race were unique. You were given an IC tag, and it measured the distance that you ran, and the organizer would count your distance. Adult racers needed to run 10 kilometers before going to the goal (the starting point). The limitation time was two hours. You received a plastic bag and if you picked up a can, 10 seconds would be deducted from your time. It meant the more cans you picked, the more time that was deducted from your time. The race was the total of your running time and the number of your cans. The NPO and the city were worried about this city's environmental problem, dirtiness. And they together collected various
One can weighs approximately 15 grams, if it is a 350 milliliters aluminum can. So, if you picked up 200 cans, it becomes 3 kilos and it would become heavy for runners. She was in her late 20s. She originally jogged every day. She was concerned about ecology and the environment very much, and she hated that this city's people had so little concern about public area cleanliness. The contestants could choose anywhere to run, and many people went to the downtown area because there were a lot of cans thrown in concentrated areas. But she chose the suburb area to avoid cars and traffic lights. Her strategy worked. On the sidewalk and banks there were many cans that were thrown out by car drivers. Her backpack was filled with a lot of cans. After a while, she stopped for a rest and started to step on the cans to crush them in order to make them small. After one and a half hours, she started to return to the goal. Her strategy was to use enough time and get a lot of cans. She thought it would help to clean up as much as possible. But this plan had a weakness. Her backpack seemed to weigh more than 5 kilos. It was rather hard to run with a 5 kilo load. She sweated hard and thought to give up matching the time. At least she could help clean up the town. She saw a child with her mother running in front of her. She looked to be 5 years old or so. In her cute back pack, some cans rattled. The mother talked to her. They might not be able to get to the goal in time. She cheered for them and promised to the mother that if she got to the goal earlier, she would wait for them. She started to speed up. It was a weird sight. Near the goal line, she was not be able to carry her backpack anymore and started to drag it. She had a hundred meters more to the goal. The spectators started to cheer for her, and it became a chant. When she reached the goal, a big applause occurred. Soon her cans were calculated. She got second place. The winner, a guy in his forties, came up to her and asked her for a handshake. She willingly replied. His grip was strong. Amazingly, his time was half of hers and gathered more cans. She praised him for his splendid results. He said that her efforts before the finish line was one of his most impressive sights. She smiled. She received a silver medal. She found the family who she had encouraged in the race. She took off her medal and put it on the girl's neck. The girl shyly smiled. She was happy that there were so many runners who joined and so many cans that were collected. |
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*deduct :to take an amout or a part of something away from a total (C)
*rattle :to male a noise like something knocking repeatedly(C)
*drag :to pull something or someone along the ground somewhere, usually with difficulty (C)