A Running Start

As I spoke with members of community organizations throughout Portland about our upcoming group runs it became clear that a lack of winter running gear will be a barrier to participation for many who might otherwise want to run.  I had been kicking around the concept of something called the Running Start Program and wanted to share the idea.

The program would involve creating a wish list based on the needs of those who've expressed interest in running and soliciting used gear from members of the athletic community to match these needs.  Aspiring runners could then be matched up with those who are donating their used gear and exchange a service that would further the donating members running progress (taking care of a household chore so that the donator can sneak in a run that they otherwise would have missed, helping to compile training data from a running log, listening to you recount every detail from your first marathon which takes longer to tell then it did to run it...) for the piece of gear that they need to begin running themselves.  Runners helping runners.

Just an idea at this point but wanted to share it, get feedback on how the program could be alternately implemented or improved, and ask anyone who is about to ditch an old pair of running shoes to hold off...they could end up giving someone in the neighborhood a running start.