7-time Ian adventure racing world champion Ian Adamson and ultra-running legend and 2-time Badwater winner Pam Reed both seem to have certain penchant for pain and suffering and are training hard for the Badwater Ultramarathon in a couple of months. As part of their training, and more importantly to raise awareness for an important cause, both Ian and Pam are going to spend eight hours on a treadmill at the Rock’n'Roll Marathon in San Diego this weekend. To honor their pain, we’re going to give away some Newton shoes to a couple of lucky winners.

Since we launched the company about three years ago, Newton has proudly supported the Trickle Up Foundation with a $1 donation for the sale of every pair of shoes. Trickle up was created to help poverty-stricken people in developing countries to launch micro-enterprises by providing seed capital grants and business training – it’s a small non-profit that’s making a big difference in the world.

In order to raise awareness about Trickle Up, Ian and Pam will be running on the treadmill for eight hours straight wearing pedometers to train for Badwater. (Ian is running Friday for eight hours, Pam is running Saturday for eight hours).

Here’s how to win FREE SHOES.

Guess at the number of steps they will each take over the course of the day. Two winners (for the closest guess for Ian) will receive a pair of Newtons of their choice. There are four different ways in which you can enter:

1. Stop by our expo booth and write down your guess.

2. Leave a comment on this blog post with each guess.

3. Tweet your guesses and include the hashtag #NewtonRnRSD

4. Leave a comment on the Facebook post announcing the contest.

The contest will run until the end of the day on June 5th, when we will pick the winners, and break ties via a random drawing. You can read the full contest guidelines here.

Sweating it out for eight hours of running in place will be good training for whats up next—both Ian and Pam will be running Badwater in July as part of  the seven-athlete Newton team. Stay tuned for more updates on the team.

Need an entry to the sold out 2010 Subaru Ironman Canada? Well you just might be in luck. Newton will be offering 25 VIP entry spots in exchange for a 3,000 dollar donation to the Prostate Cancer Foundation. Benefits of becoming a member of Team Newton include:

-Entry into the sold-out Subaru Ironman Canada
-VIP entry to Ironman Canada events
-Access to the designated Team Newton Running race transition area
-Pre-race BBQ
-One pair of Newton Running Performance Trainers and one pair of Performance Racers
-Team Newton Running cycling kit and race kit
-One pair of limited edition PCF Performance Racers

Prostate Cancer is a very important cause for Newton because co-founder Jerry Lee is a prostate cancer survivor himself. Check out his video below:

There will also be limited edition, blue and green PCF Newton Running Performance Racers for sale at the Subaru Ironman Canada race expo and also as a limited-release model in August 2010, and a portion of each sale will be donated to the PCF.

You can also donate to the PCF directly through Newton’s team website.

Newton Running is a proud sponsor of Ryan Maloney, a 10-year-old from San Diego county who ran his first half marathon last Sunday on behalf of Team Triabetes and Insulindependence.  Ryan has had type 1 diabetes since he was two and has become a great athlete as part of staying healthy. He is the youngest of 50 Team Triabetes members that participated in the Carlsbad marathon and half marathon. Way to go Ryan!

Ryan’s mother sent us this great race report:

Mile 2- Ryan’s teacher  Ms. Bescak jumped on the course with them for 3 miles. Ryan’s blood sugars went low (58) and he took a gel and walked a little bit.

Mile 3- Blood sugars went up to 75

Mile 5- stopped to test blood sugars (82) took another gel.  Mom switches places with Ryan’s teacher for next 3 miles.

Mile 6- bathroom break

Mile 6 1/2- half way through the race and Ryan is smiling and feeling great. Runs the hills with no problems.

Mile 7- the highlight of Ryan’s race- Peter Nerothin the President of Insulindependence comes up from behind us as he is at mile 20 of the full Marathon and cheers Ryan on as he runs with us for a minute.

Mile 8- Mom switches places with two of Ryan’s friends Jacob B. and Jacob U. who run the next 3 miles with him. Ryan doesn’t stop running they just jump in the race course with him.

Mile 10 1/2- Blood sugars drop to 73. Ryan takes another gel.

Mile 11- Ryan’s calves start to hurt and he is starting to feel tired. He walks for a minute.

Mile 12- Ryan’s calves continue to hurt, but he keeps on running.

Mile 13- Ryan finishes the race strong with a time of 2 hours 36 minutes. Second half of the race at a pace of almost 1 minute per mile faster than the first half.

Next year he wants to finish under 2 1/2 hours. (And we’re confident he will!)

Newton Running is incredibly proud to support Winter Vinecki and Athletes for a Cure.

A Gift For Winter from Athletes for a Cure on Vimeo.

This video project was a gift from an extremely talented Atlanta artist, James Mabery. www.everydayjm.com

Ten-year-old Winter Vinecki has been competing in triathlons since she was 5 years old, but when her dad was diagnosed with prostrate cancer last year, the meaning behind her hobby changed completely. “I decided to use my talents to help him,” she explains. “I’m good at doing triathlons, so I could maybe bring a smile to his face.”

Together with her mother, she created Team Winter as part of Athletes for a Cure to help raise money to fight prostrate cancer. To date, the determined triathlete has raised $100,000 for the cause. Her father watches proudly every time Winter completes the mile swim, 25-mile bike ride and 26.2-mile run. “To have her finish,” he says, “it’s almost like I ran the race. Emotionally, it brings tears to my eyes every time I see her run.” Michael Vinecki lost his fight with prostate cancer on March 12, 2009 at the age of 40, but Winter never gives in. If you’d like to join Team Winter, create your own program or just pick one race for a reason this year, you’re one click away. REGISTER

Members of Denver’s Abraham Lincoln High School cross country team spent a
morning volunteering for One World Running, a Boulder non-profit that sends
shoes to needy children and young adults in Africa and Central America.
Coach Oscar Ponce (far right) was an all-state runner at Denver East High
School and later an All-Big 12 runner for the University of Colorado. A
story about his re-starting the cross country program at Abraham Lincoln
High School will be featured in the September 2009 issue of Running Times.
For more about One World Running, visit www.oneworldrunning.com.

(photo by Patrice Malloy)

Newton Running is proud to have sponsored the 2009 Union Tribune Race for Literacy weekend in San Diego on May 2-3.  All proceeds from the weekend will go to the San Diego Council on Literacy, an organization that in the past year provided over 71,000 children and 46,000 adults with free literacy assistance.

The weekend drew over 6,000 children and adults to participate in the kids’ Magic Mile race as well as the 8K all in effort to fight for literacy.