VIVOBAREFOOT Autumn / Winter Preview; Team World Vision Promo
From time to time I receive notifications directing me to one promotional item or another, in hopes that I’ll share them on this website. The majority of them aren’t particularly remarkable, but every now and then something catches my eye that’s definitely worth passing along.
Such was the case about a month ago, when both my mind and my publishing calendar were largely dominated by preparations for running the Tahoe Rim Trail 100 - yes, I'm going to keep linking there for a while longer - so needless to say, everything else was pushed to the back burner for a while. There were, however, a couple of items that I wanted to circle back to later … and as it happens, later is now. So here we go.
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The first is a video that was filmed in conjunction with VIVOBAREFOOT’s Autumn/Winter 2011 catalog photo shoot. It was filmed on the southwestern coast of England, and features narration by barefoot coach Lee Saxby along with several very fortunate models who spent three days scampering around on trails, fells, and beaches on the beautiful Devon shoreline. (On a related note, I need to figure out how to be selected for one of those gigs.) It’s the kind of clip that makes you think, “Why the heck am I sitting inside?”
It also features brief still shots of several VIVOBAREFOOT designs, two of which will be discussed in more detail on this website in the near future. I’ll have a full review of the Achilles sandal at the end of this week, and I’ll most likely be testing the Neo Trail in the near future for a fall review. Until then, enjoy the video:
"VIVOBAREFOOT Autumn/Winter 11 Photo Shoot" (click to play):
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The second clip is somewhat inspirational, and struck me as an admirable cross between Team in Training and Charlie Engle’s H2O Africa fundraising efforts (Charlie's prison time notwithstanding). It was produced by Team World Vision, which raises money for clean water programs around the world through organized running events.
I’ve always had somewhat mixed feelings about the marriage of charity groups and endurance sports, but it’s clear that the phenomenon won’t be subsiding anytime soon. And as far as worthy causes go, it’s hard to do much better than World Vision, a Christian humanitarian group who has worked for more than 60 years to address the daunting problems of poverty and social injustice throughout the world.
Team World Vision began at the Chicago Marathon in 2005 and has expanded to several other races over the past few years. Like TNT, it targets novice runners seeking coaching and group support to achieve an athletic goal while also applying their efforts to benefit a larger societal cause. They’ve raised more than $5 million for clean water projects in Africa and Haiti, and this year more than 6,000 runners will participate in the program.
If you’d like more information or are interested in joining them, check out the following video as well as the Team World Vision website.
"What Do You Run For?" by Team World Vision (click to play):
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