On Tuesday a few of us took TOM’S challenge and went One Day Without Shoes to raise awareness of the impact a pair of shoes can have on a child’s life by going without shoes. WHY? Millions of children live without shoes. Many are exposed to injury and disease each day, and are not allowed to go to school without shoes.

Spending a typical day in an office wasn’t overly traumatic but when we had to head out to a meeting* on a rainy day we were made extremely aware of how vulnerable one is walking barefoot outside.

Coincidentally this week we have also been working on a brand identity for Paleo Shoes,  a line of “barefoot” running shoes developed by my Uncle Bob (aka “Ultra Bob, now “Paleo Bob”). His sense of humor, passion and dedication to long-distance running have always inspired me, but at the age of 65 he’s blowing us all away.

Looking for a new challenge, but finding all the other barefoot running shoes uncomfortable, he dug out his old box of leather tools from the sixties (he never throws anything useful away) and invented the leather running sandals.

Over the past 30 years Paleo Bob has run over 100 races in traditional running shoes, many of them ultra marathons including the infamous Western States 100 mile Endurance Run. Now, with a year and a half of training injury-free in his Paleo Shoes he is set to run the Boston Marathon on Monday ”Barefoot…with Sole.”

We’re so impressed and proud of you Uncle Bob and will be cheering from the virtual sidelines!

Boom!

Follow him on Facebook and stay tuned for his new website and store. facebook.com/paleoshoes

*Luckily our meeting was a presentation about social media so TOM’S gave us a perfect test case to discuss the power of viral information.