101 uses for a retired running shoe - General running

Ian

05/09/2002 at 10:27

I've now got about 6 pairs of running shoes which are no good for running anymore but still have plenty of wear in them for walking about in. They seem to be made of the same stuff as Captain Scarlet. Any suggestion as to what to do with them (nothing rude, please)? It breaks my heart to just chuck them out.

Pauline Carter

05/09/2002 at 10:37

Ian

They are great for putting pot plants in. Fancy nice colourful pansies.They really make a fun and groovy display outside. To stop the shoe rotting stick a stopper under the front of the shoe so not on the ground all the time. I have also done this with old boots. Look really great.

jenks

05/09/2002 at 12:45

How about putting them in the Clothing Collection Bins, there is often one for shoes. Someone less furtunate may be able to benifit from them.

jenks

Pamela

05/09/2002 at 12:48

alternatively, there are many charities transprting clothes and shoes that still have some wear left in them to the third world. they may not be fit for your training, but they might keep somebody's feet out of direct contact with the ground. check out your local salvation army, charity shops, ar wait a while and you might get a bag through the letterbox to fill with unwanted items of clothing.
or send them to a jumble sale, but that seems a bit more heartless.
Pamela x

Pizza Man:-)

05/09/2002 at 13:34

I use mine to annoy my wife, just leave them lying around the house, never fails.

seriously though I give mine to a charity shop who presume put them in a big shoe bin.

neilruns .

05/09/2002 at 13:51

Perhaps you could use them to construct a small shrine at which you could worship the gods of running. Each day you could pray for a PB, chant against injury etc.

Barkles

05/09/2002 at 14:46

Ear rings?

Dark Helmet

05/09/2002 at 15:02

A model of the Eifel Tower?

Barkles

05/09/2002 at 15:35

Actually, I have an old pair that I save for running around New Year. It's vital that the shoes don't look new at this time of year. I worked damned hard to get running and I damned if some git is going to think I've just taken it up as a resolution.

Dark Helmet

05/09/2002 at 15:47

Barkles,
Fantastic idea! Like it a lot!

Free_Running

05/09/2002 at 15:52

Take them to your next race, I am always hearing 'I have forgot my trainers' as an excuse for not running the race.

Xerxes

05/09/2002 at 15:53

Can old shoes be recycled into Boob-Smoothies?

Dark Helmet

05/09/2002 at 15:59

Ah Tim, there you are! Didn't think that you could resist this thread!

N1654

26/09/2002 at 21:21

When running shoes have done their duty, I will still wear "retired" ones sometimes when I'm going for a run on soft or wet ground which has a bit of give in it. They are expensive to buy, and my reasoning is that you might as well get a bit of extra mileage out of old ones on soft ground.

It's useful keeping old shoes anyway for when it's raining for weeks on end. At least it means you can put on a dry shoe, rather than the ones you wore the day before which haven't dried out as yet.

Dustin

27/09/2002 at 14:42

Having just purchased a discount pair of 1060s (at £25 they were a snip),new 2070s (last pair are threadbare) and some off road Saucony (pronounced sock-er-nee not sauce-oh-nee as they say in the shops) I am faced with such a dilemma.

(apparently I promised Mrs D I'd turf out old shoes when I got the new ones.)

I like to leave them under the bed, indeed I tell my kids that the asics wearing octopus under the bed has a new 6-legged friend - does that mean I need one more pair?

I used to relegate old pairs (in the days when I had just the one) to gardening duties,but there is so much gardening a man can stand.

Instead , I'm investing in a potting shed and filling it up with old shoes, each sentimentally labelled with a race history.

In time I hope to market this as a local attraction.

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