TeamSweat

I heard about this on Phedippidations podcast, fdip 204: TeamSweat, and was very intrigued, so I hopped over to www.teamsweat.org and watched a very disturbing video -- basically, a guy who was a soccer coach at St. John's University was researching labor practices that Nike promotes in their factory in Indonesia. He learned that those factory workers make the equivalent of $1.25 / day, just enough for two small meals a day, a glass of iced tea, and small amount of detergent. No money for anything else. God forbid if you get sick, or can't work. He fought against St. Johns' endorsement deal with Nike as was let go because of it. This guy, Jim Keady, as part of his research, lived on those wages in Indonesia for a month. One day, he purchased a razor just so that he could shave, and then couldn't eat for a whole day -- there just wasn't enough money.

Basically, Nike is treating these workers like slaves. Jim Keady is working to raise awareness of this, and I, for one, support him. Based on what I read and heard, I'm no longer purchasing Nike products. Now, I like Nike clothes (the shoes, not so much). I own their clothes. They work great. I also like their commercials. They also sponsor some great runners. However, I'm not going to support them by purchasing any more of their products. I'm going to continue to use the clothes that I have, as it will waste resources to replace them with something else.

Anyway, click on the links and learn more about it.

I also ran today (I only ran 2 times this week, due to colds, busy-ness, etc.). I ran 10 miles at a 9:35 pace. It was cold and rainy, but while I was running, I felt fine (my knee hurt afterward though). When I stopped at mid-way to eat a GU energy gel, I immediately got cold (by this time, I was as wet as could be). Today was also the first day this season I wore long pants (Nike's, actually). So, 17 miles for the week. Oh well.