What’s the one piece of running gear that you never want to part with?

Have you ever had a pair of shoes, special socks or a lucky shirt that you just couldn’t imagine parting with? In this short film, Australian outdoorsman, runner and filmmaker Beau Miles pays tribute to an extraordinary hat. 

“My magnificent hat has lost the will to live,” says Miles. “After 15 years of sun and body fluids, with a heavy heart and a head full of memories I take my favorite, thread-bare, stinking, beyond-repair hat for one last run.” In an “ode to his stuff” that will have you laughing and quite possibly shedding a tear (yes, over a hat), Miles’s tribute to his hat is surprisingly powerful.

Miles is known for being a fixer–he doesn’t like to waste anything, and in the first moments of the film you see him stitching up a favourite pair of shoes: “what a therapeutic thing to do before going for a run,” he says. His entire running outfit, he says, is probably on its last legs, but he sets out for a 40-km run anyway, to bid adieu to his hat and honour the adventures he’s been on with it.

While it might sound silly, Miles delivers some insightful reflections, sharing that a good piece of gear allows you to completely forget you’re using it and be immersed in the experience you’re having. If you’ve ever had a piece of running kit that you’ve carted around everywhere, you’ll relate, and if you don’t, you’ll find yourself feeling the need for one.

“As I move through life, I’m realizing that what I wear and make and fix until it can no longer be fixed are things worth spending time with,” Miles says. Those beloved running shoes that you simply can’t get rid of and insist on taking out for the occasional nostalgic run? Miles says they’re important, and he does so in a beautiful way.

posted Monday December 19th
by Keeley Milne