Nike Shoe Recycling Program

Nike goes green with the Nike Shoe Recycling Program or as Nike terms it - Reuse-a-Shoe. With millions of athletic shoes being thrown in the garbage every year, Nike decided to take the green road and do something about it. Through the Nike reuse-a-shoe program, Nike encourages people to drop off their athletic shoes at one of the shoe drop-off locations located in many Nike outlet stores, other retail stores, sports clubs and schools in Canada, UK, Netherlands, Germany, and Australia. Alternatively, Nike also provides an address where your shoes can be mailed in. Go to: http://letmeplay.com/reuseashoe/locations/ to find a location near you.

What Usefulness Do Old Worn-Out Athletic Shoes Have?

Nike takes the pairs of shoes and grinds them down into what is called Nike Grind. Nike Grind is composed of rubber from the outsole, foam from the midsole and fabric from the upper and are used in:

• basketball courts
• running tracks
• soccer fields
• tennis courts
• playgrounds

And Nike is continuing to explore new and innovative uses for Nike Grind. If your wondering what Nike Grind looks and feels like, visit a Nike store where you will likely see it in the footwear aisles.

It’s nice to see Nike in the positive press for what they are giving back through this great community program.

Please do your part by remembering to donate your old athletic shoes.

The Barefoot Runner

For the past couple years, everytime I run my beach route, I run into the barefoot runner running along the grass. To me, he doesn’t really look like a runner - if one can stereotype what a runner is supposed to look like, so when I first saw him I thought it was just something that he was trying out. I really thought that the poor fellow is going to hurt himself and that he should get some shoes on. Well, I’ve been running into him for at least two years now - I no longer think that it’s something that he’s just trying out. I still think that he might hurt himself though - but not biomechanically, but by stepping on a piece of glass or something.

When I looked into barefoot running a bit more, it seems that it’s more popular than I would have thought. There is a whole society of barefoot runners.

What’s the attraction?

Apparently, lose the shoes and get back to your body’s natural biomechanics. The thinking behind running shoes, whether they are stability, cushioned or neutral is that they offer too much support, which makes the muscles and neuromuscular pathways of the foot and ankle weak. When barefoot we use our muscles in our feet for our balance. Try performing some indoor exercises with and without your sneakers on and you will feel the difference for yourself. When barefoot, your feet do the work - controlling your movements. And it’s amazing how much work your feet actually do. When wearing running shoes, the support that the runners provide do the work for you.

Sound appealing? If so, you can get more information from runningbarefoot.org.

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