What's all this New Balance about?

On the surface, it seems like this blog is all about my pursuit of New Balance for sponsorship. You may get that impression from a few things:

• The name of the site. Clearly I am pleading for sponsorship.
• My logo. A humorous homage to New Balance's logo.
• My balance. Again, a homage of New Balance's Love/Hate that I have turned into Sponsor/Fool.
• My description that talks about wanting New Balance to sponsor a real person (namely me).
• Posts that talk about my progress in getting New Balance to notice me, etc.

New Balance sponsorship is a fun, recurring theme but it is not my purpose for having this blog. The real reason I started it was because I began running seriously in November 2010. I had been having issues with my asthma and was in the hospital at least twice a year. I also hit 200 lbs and that is the heaviest I have been in my life. The weight made my asthma worse of course. I looked terrible, felt terrible and was starting to have a sinking feeling that I would not have a long and healthy life with my wife and 3 kids. One night in November, I took off running. I am not sure why. Asthma had prevented me from enjoying it in the past. Whatever the reason, I stuck with it and discovered that I could actually do it. In addition to running, I changed my diet completely. I am from Wales originally and grew up on heavy dairy and red meat. My daughter has a rare blood disease and my son can't tolerate dairy. We started eating mostly a plant based diet (except for fish) to help them. I found that it benefitted me greatly too. That's hard to say for a man that loves hot dogs. I am proud to say that because of running and diet, I have transformed myself in the following ways:

• I have lost 40 lbs
• I am off asthma medication for the first time in my adult life
• I can run without inducing asthma. In fact, I have no asthma symptoms at all.
• I feel great and have plenty of energy
• I look 10 years younger
• I feel a deep connection to the experience of running. I never thought I would love running.

So, what is my motivation for this site? I think it is pretty simple. I want to keep motivating myself to run, learn about running and have some fun in the process. I'm pretty honest about the fact that I know very little about running and that is actually quite liberating. My posts are not focused on New Balance, they are all sorts of things... a humorous running fashion, my thoughts on an old "made for TV" running movie or a personal introspective moment, etc.


It would be great if New Balance recognized what a real and imperfect person can bring to running through their brand. Inspiration doesn't just come from elite runners. There are those of us who do not get up every day with the luxury of devoting ourselves to running. We overcome family life, work life and all the stresses that come with those things to do something we love. We are inspirational. It's not shoes that create a new balance, it's people. We overcome life's barriers to love the experience of running. If New Balance ever wanted to sponsor me in some way, I would want to make it about inspiring others in some way–not just about me getting free stuff.


If you have any questions or thoughts on how I can make this more interesting or more entertaining, feel free to contact at simon@sponsorthefool.com