If you’ve got a little Captain Morgan in you, you may be the reason I couldn’t finish my run on Wednesday.

I was running in the Ellwood Bluffs and just as I got to the cliffs, I saw an overturned shopping cart with some plastic bags of trash in it. I probably gave a disgusted grunt and started to turn onto the trail, but I couldn’t run past it. I stopped, pulled the trash out of the cart and started walking back home. I couldn’t run with the trash because even when they’re empty, two large glass bottles of Captain Morgan is pretty heavy. They were appropriately paired with two empty two liters of soda. As I walked, I found more things to pick up.

I’d like to brag about my morning trash collection (an almost complete list):

• two bottles of rum*
• two bottles of soda*
• cigarette pack
• doritos bag
• granola bar wrapper
• a sock
• a beer can*

Last night I had dinner with a group of wonderful people, including an anthropologist. This has me thinking about what we can learn about people from their trash. I think I can draw a few conclusions about the people that preceded me on the bluffs.

*Yes, I recycled.