Running 10km in thongs?

In February 2016 intraining Running Centre made a call out to the local running community in Brisbane for donations of old, yet still wearable condition running shoes. We were inundated with kindness and generosity and managed to put together a batch of running shoes to send over to those less fortunate in Papua New Guinea and Fiji.

So what happened to all the running shoes?

Read the story below from our international intraining club member, Pete Lane who assisted in the donation and processing of footwear to those who were searching for a happy run.

When did you last run 10 km in thongs?  The answer is probably, “never ever”, as we all know what this would do to our knees, feet and hips!

Yet if you were Nayeem Mollah, a student from Bangladesh, whom intraining runner Pete Lane met in  Nadi, Fiji in March, his answer was,
“I run 10 km in thongs all the time as I have no money to buy runners. I arrived from Bangladesh with only 7 kilo’s of luggage so I had no extra room for sports shoes.”

Nayeem was part of a group of the students who regularly ran and exercised in Fiji’s heat and humidity, Pete asked if he could join them. After the 10 km run that Nayeem half-walked and half-ran, Pete was obviously concerned what damage Nayeem would do to his feet if he kept running in thongs.

After a lot of planning and assistance, Nayeem and the other runners were delighted to receive running shoes on Saturday 5th March.

At the second run on Sunday 6th March, Nayeem turned up with his new runners, ready to go. This time a delighted, smiling Nayeem ran the whole way with Pete at his side!

Thanks again to intraining and the kindness of the Brisbane running community for donating footwear and spreading the joy of running with those less fortunate.