Trail running shoe reccomendations

[SheepDogRob]

In my experience, there are many great shoes out there for trail running. I've been wearing the Pearl Izumi N2's or N3's for a few years. Ran a 50k trail run last year and doing a 50 miler this summer. Depends on what works for your foot. Just make sure they're a good fit. Your foot should fit flat in the shoe as it would bare without being cramped.


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[WyoElk]

Just ordered a pair of the NB Leadville's. I'll try to let you know once they come in.

Been using these on the trails for about a week now and they have been real great. Assuming they hold up they might be my new go to shoe.

 

[thinhorn_AK]

I've been using Casccadias since ~ 2010. I'm going to get a new pair soon. They have worked well for me up to 50 mile races. That's about the longest I do anymore.

 

[airlocksniffer]

Starting on my 2nd pair of Leadville V3's. Great shoe. Mostly trail running but have used it for backpacking and some hunting. I'm pretty limited in my options with wider feed (2E). I also tend to wear out the uppers the same way on all my shoes (mostly the inside of the shoe by the big toe knuckle). I hit the new shoes with some Shoe Goo right away to stave this off. On my old pair, with no Shoe Goo, the uppers didn't get a hole until last weekend on a 15 mile hike/snowshoe. The pair lasted about a year and I wore them hard.

 

[couesbitten]

Just bought a pair of Inov8 Trailtalon 250s, really happy with them, have a race this weekend, can't wait!

 

[mtwarden]

if you're going to be in trail runners a lot, I'd recommend getting a couple different pairs (different shoes). Varying the stack height, drop, etc has proven out to reduce injuries. You simply rotate them around through the week.

I would suggest buying them from running warehouse or other business that has a generous return policy- generous as in you can actually run/hike in them.

When comes to footwear, fit is king- doesn't matter what features a shoe has if doesn't fit.

 

[Jimss]

One word of warning about super light shoes...beware of using them in rock! I wore a pair on a NW Nevada pronghorn hunt in lava rock country and my feet have never been the same ever since! The rock permanently damaged the bottoms of the balls of my feet because they didn't have desired protection from rock. Ever since I've had to wear boots with a little more protection from rock plus I add insoles with more padding.

 

[Formidilosus]

One word of warning about super light shoes...beware of using them in rock! I wore a pair on a NW Nevada pronghorn hunt in lava rock country and my feet have never been the same ever since! The rock permanently damaged the bottoms of the balls of my feet because they didn't have desired protection from rock. Ever since I've had to wear boots with a little more protection from rock plus I add insoles with more padding.

This has more to do with your foot not being conditioned, than the type of shoe. A person with well conditioned feet can walk across it barefoot. I just say this as using minimal footwear has great benefit, but lots of people jump in too minimal, too fast. If someone has been wearing padded, arched, "supportive" shoes their whole life (pretty much everyone)- their feet and lower legs are WEAK. Start slow and work your way up..... or down as it were.



As for minimal shoes in general.... yes. All the way. I've hunted quite a few nasty mountains in trail shoes and even Five Fingers. Last year I did a 7 day, 60+ mile hunt in the Frank Church in Idaho carrying a 58lb dry pack in Inov-8 Roclite 286GTX's. I bet I had 20 people that didn't know me tell me that they would be shredded and I would have to be carried out using them. Amazing how regular hikers and climbers go the exact same places carrying packs and wearing tennis shoes, that hunters think they need a 15in tall steel boot for.....

 

[Hackleback]

Running warehouse; free returns. Buy several pair to try and return the ones you don't like.

 

[mtwarden]

I would suggest buying them from running warehouse or other business that has a generous return policy- generous as in you can actually run/hike in them.

When comes to footwear, fit is king- doesn't matter what features a shoe has if doesn't fit.

Running warehouse; free returns. Buy several pair to try and return the ones you don't like.

if you're local running store doesn't have a liberal return policy (most don't)- this is the only way to go- you can order a couple of pairs of different shoes, you can order a couple of different sizes in the same shoe and most importantly- no penalty for actually trying them out

wouldn't that be something if there was an equivalent hunting boot shop!