Toby Tanser: We are in a World of Help. What is Your Role Going to Be? -R4R 012

The Running for Real Podcast

Tina Muir

Sports, Running, Mental Health, Health & Fitness

4.7 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 9 June 2017

⏱️ 71 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Toby Tanser is one of the running ambassadors of our time. Not only did Toby convince Prince Harry to run with him, get Gloria Gaynor to meet a runner at the finish of a race, and friends with plenty of other celebrities, Toby is also a sub 2:20 marathoner who founded Shoe4Africa.

Toby shares his story about how he went from smoking 20 cigarettes a day, drinking 6 Guinness in a day to running professionally, to where he went to do a training stint in Kenya to improve.

Toby realized that for him, it was not about his running and what he wanted to accomplish, but how he could help others, especially the Kenyan runners who were putting absolutely everything into their running.

Toby was responsible for the first public childrens hospital in Kenya, and continues to find new ways to help other runners, getting the best Kenyan runners in the world (including Eulid Kipchoge and Mary Keitany) to be involved in his projects.

This is for you if you love to hear about the good there is in this world, and want to help others to bring light and joy to those in need. Toby is a runner who is passionate about helping others with their running goals, while helping everyone he can to be in good health, a luxury not everyone can afford.

Today's Guest

Toby Tanser

Founder and CEO of Shoe for Africa, which built the first public children's hospital in Africa. Toby is on the board of directors for the New York Road Runners and organizes lots of events worldwide for charity.

What You Will Learn About

Why when he arrived in Kenya, he realized running wasn't what he was passionate about, helping people was.
Why he gave away all his shoes (Including the ones on his feet), meaning he had to travel back to Sweden without any shoes on, and was consequentially arrested in Paris as a potential vagrant.
Why Shoe4Africa doesn't send many shoes to Africa anymore (and what they are doing instead).
How Toby got the best Kenyan runners in the world to create peace within tribes by arranging a march for peace.
How and why Shoe4Africa built the first children's public hospital in Kenya with 105 beds for children.
What you can do to help Toby and Shoe4Africa in the future

Inspirational Quotes

I wanted to stop, but I was able to keep on going because of the fear.

When we compete, we compete against ourselves. We don't really compete against other people.

Arriving in Kenya, expecting to just go on a training camp, the country truly changed my life in so many ways. I realized, I wasn't really interested in running, I was interested in other things in Kenya.

I saw a place that had immense talent, but so few opportunities.

People were giving me pairs of shoes and telling me emotional stories that I never believed possible... I realized it was empowering on both sides.

Being a very small charity, we have always been very nimble and work towards the greatest need we can.

Kids in Kenya have to go to overcrowded adult hospitals and have to fight for beds.

We all know somebody who can help. We are a world of help. It is ingrained in our DNA.

I look at the London marathon and what it has done for the world of charity, absolutely amazing. New York is close on its heels now.

Mary Keitanys first senior race was a shoe4africa race.

Running is such a beautiful sport.

Resources Mentioned

Thanks for Listening! I hope you enjoyed today's episode.

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Thank you to Toby, I look forward to hearing your thoughts on the show.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	One of the runners came from the slums and told me can you come and visit my family
0:05.9	so I agreed to.
0:06.9	I didn't realize I was saying yes to going to live in a slum.
0:10.1	And when I went there I was shocked. It was the first time in my life I'd been in a place where money didn't count.
0:16.0	This is Running for Real, the podcast for Runners who know that for every runner's high,
0:21.0	there are just as many lows.
0:23.2	All those just missed PRs, easy runs that feel hard, injury blues and more.
0:28.6	Each week we'll talk to running, health, and wellness experts
0:32.0	about their highs, lows, and best advice to build our
0:35.3	confidence. Running for real is about being honest, being brave and most of all
0:40.9	not feeling alone.
0:43.0	And now here's our host who once cried when her sister accidentally squished a spider
0:47.5	she had named Spidey in her childhood bedroom, Tina Muir.
0:51.0	Hello my friends, thank you so much for joining me on the Running for Real Podcast, episode number 12.
0:57.0	Now last week we talked to Tom Payne, who is a British runner and he gave us insight into what it's like to live in Kenya and work as an
1:04.7	athlete manager. It was really insightful and just a really fun interview and I
1:09.4	also gave you a bonus episode for National Running Day with my sports psychologist Evie Cervente.
1:15.1	So I'm sure you're going to love that one if you haven't already.
1:17.8	Make sure you do go back and subscribe to this podcast.
1:21.0	So those guide directly to your phone or your podcast player because if you do that
1:25.5	then you won't miss out on these bonus episodes. This week I have another Kenyan theme
1:30.5	but in a slightly different way and I thought you know there's so much
	...

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