NOVA Trail Cleanup: W&OD

by Erin Masterson

The day dawned bright and sunny, but with a chill in the air.

The location: W&OD Trail, Bluemont Park, Arlington.

The attendees: The more intrepid members of the NOVA Running Club.

NOVA Club President Justin Buenaflor gathered his troops together and outlined the mission. Their task at hand: to clean up, tidy, and otherwise beautify the portion of the Washington and Old Dominion (W&OD) Trail in Arlington which the NOVA  Running Club has sponsored for the past several years.

Buenaflor was unconcerned. "We'll be done in an hour or so!" he proclaimed confidently. "There isn't usually that much trash along the trail, so we probably won't even need all these garbage bags." Hah. Famous last words. I'm sure Custer was thinking the same thing as he led his troops into the Battle of Little Big Horn.

The NOVA Team, before the start.

In any case, there was work to be done. Fortified with Dunkin' Donuts coffee and munchkins, we set off. The troops split into two groups, approaching the two-mile stretch of trail from either end with the goal to meet in the middle, making a clean sweep along the way and ensuring that all users of W&OD would benefit from our hard work and strong gag reflexes, at least along this little portion. As we would soon find, however those gag reflexes would be sorely tested.



The lucky ones.

The lucky half of the NOVA clean up team, led by NOVA Club Vice President Amanda Williams, had an easy task. Their robust militia of at least a dozen team members made quick work of their mission, minimal though it was given the scant amount of garbage along the trail. They completed their portion of the clean up in record time.


NOVA President Justin Buenaflor and his team members

Justin's fledgling team of four members, approaching the trail from the opposite end near Columbia Pike, was sadly outnumbered by garbage. Beer bottles, to be specific. Dozens upon dozens upon hundreds of beer bottles. Other types of bottles too (margarita mix anyone?) as well as more unsavory items that will remain unmentioned. Some of the exclamations heard during this cleanup endeavor include "We've got some serious dumping over here!" And "Holy sh** what is that green stuff?!" Buenaflor radioed for backups but none were to be had. We were on this mission alone, and our garbage bags were running out. The climatic moment arose when NOVA Club Social Media Director Erin Masterson discovered a mattress hiding in some bushes. Although a somewhat cozy hideaway, Buenaflor determined that the mattress had to go, and took it upon himself to dispose of it, along with the can of sardines that its resident must have been munching on. Cue gag reflex.

The mattress.

In the end, more than 20 bags of garbage and recyclables were collected and disposed of that day. The NOVA team was triumphant, despite their bedraggled appearances and desperate need for total body disinfectant showers. No one could argue that we are not dedicated to our team, to our fellow runners, and the trail community, for this day truly showed our willing spirits and positive attitudes in the face of lots and LOTS OF TRASH OH MY GOD. (all photos courtesy Justin Buenaflor)

YAY GARBAGE
NOVA's Larry Clark and Justin Buenaflor