{"type":"rich","version":"1.0","provider_name":"Transistor","provider_url":"https://transistor.fm","author_name":"Flanigan's Eco-Logic","title":"Stuart Jenkins - Great Runners Are Faster Wearing Shoes Made With Recycled Foam","html":"","width":"100%","height":180,"duration":1988,"description":"Stuart Jenkins is the founder and chief executive officer of Blumaka, a company that manufactures insoles and shoes for high performance athletes. As a marathon competitor, Stuart was frustrated not to be able to access high performance running shoes, so he designed and now manufacturers and sells his own line. Blumaka also sells its insole technology to Fleks shoes, one of Oprah's top product picks.\nThe podcast begins with Stuart's story. A farm boy from Nebraska, he won major marathons, finished in the Boston Marathon seven times, and was an Olympic trial runner. All told, he has run nearly 90,000 miles in his life so far, equivalent to circling the globe more than three times. He had first-hand experience with worn out insoles that lost their cushion. The insoles that come with top brand shoes, he states, fail in 30 miles or less. Blumaka guarantees its insoles for 1,000 miles.\nTed and Stuart discuss the benefits of running.. lots of time to think and reflect. Running competitively, Stuart reflects, is all about effort. If you work hard, you can be at the front of the pack. The old joke is that the hardest part of running is pulling on your shorts! Running stimulates creativity and thought; you can process information better when not distracted. Stuart stated that he can get more work done on a 30-minute run that being in the office for 4 - 5 hours.\nAs a young runner, he was given shoes by local race sponsors for winning his division. But they did not satisfy him so he took out his mom's butcher's knife and cut away at foam for more flex and better cushion. He punched holes in shoes if they were too hot. At age 17, and after modifying lots of shoes he thought, \"I can make them better.\"\nThe conversation shifts to foam. Blumaka uses leftover foam from manufacturing—soles that would otherwise be buried or burned. Foam is plastic, Stuart explains, the worst kind of plastic. Imagine plastic blown with gas. Once the air is blown into the foam, like a scrambled egg,...","thumbnail_url":"https://img.transistorcdn.com/7kUbICrzk0aEuZffrVBGprBuBqZJlmqp9h-fda_2pHg/rs:fill:0:0:1/w:400/h:400/q:60/mb:500000/aHR0cHM6Ly9pbWct/dXBsb2FkLXByb2R1/Y3Rpb24udHJhbnNp/c3Rvci5mbS9zaG93/LzM1MTQ0LzE3MTE1/NjgzMTctYXJ0d29y/ay5qcGc.webp","thumbnail_width":300,"thumbnail_height":300}