Why I’m running an essential errand
If you are a regular reader you will know running is my thing. As a rough guide, I run around 2,000 miles a year. That’s a lot of miles on my feet, and shoes!
A pair used to last about 500 miles before I would put my toe through them and they would have to go to the shoe bank. I always felt that some parts of the shoe would still have lasted for a few hundred more miles though.
A while back I read a book by Damian Hall, possibly the UK’S best ultra-runner, called We Can’t Run Away From This. It really made me sit up and think that the thing I do most days is not quite as great for the environment as it could be.
I made some changes – simple ones at first, like running from my front door most days rather than driving for five miles first. I stopped buying or asking for race event T-shirts and instead ticked the “Trees not tees” box when available.
Then, by chance, when volunteering on the Ultra Magazine stand at the National Running Show, I bumped into Darren Evans, a running coach who is also part of a collaboration of caring people called The Green Runners. Ultra Magazine had given him part of their stand and he was sitting there repairing trainers.
I watched as he patched up many pairs of shoes for free but as I didn’t have any old ones with me I just felt humbled about what he was selflessly doing for others.
Recently I was involved in a charity run for WOLO (We Only Live Once) and I took the opportunity to bring a few pairs of trainers along that had some upper wear, hoping Darren could fix them for me.
Remember the adage, “Give a man a fish, feed him for a day, teach him to fish and you feed him for a lifetime”? That’s what Darren did. He showed me how to repair one shoe, I did the other, and then he sent me packing with a kit to repair all the others I had. It’s such an easy thing to do and has already saved five pairs from being recycled.
My next step was to join the Green Runners (the greenrunners.com), more about that another time.
When put together, small steps can make a huge difference – and, let’s face it, every step I take goes towards the 7,000,000 I average every year. So what small (or large) step will you take this week towards what should be everyone’s goal of a sustainable future?
He showed me how to repair a shoe, then sent me off with a kit