Right Run, Wrong Shoes

A running shoe is just like a tool - you need the right one for the job. Today, quite by chance, I ran in a shoe that didn't match the job. Now my feet and ankles are a little sore. But it's not the shoe's fault because I ran on them in conditions for which they weren't designed.

Where I live, it's the mud season. The last of the snow is just melting off my favorite mountain trail which is a few miles from our house. Sometimes when the snow or mud is too deep, I'll run with my wife on the asphalt road in the valley where the trail takes off. There's a parking area. I head up the trail, she runs up the valley on the asphalt.

Today I figured it would be that kind of day because it snowed and rained last night. The trail was bound to be super muddy, so I laced on a pair of Saucony Pro Grids, a good shoe for asphalt because of its cushioning. But when we got to the parking area at the base of the trail, the road up looked not too bad. The warm air and a slight breeze had dried some of the mud. I couldn't resist the call of the trail and headed up.

The first stretch wasn't bad because it climbs and faces slightly south. It had dried pretty well for the first eighth of a mile and some ATVers had packed a couple of ruts, but when I got to the first flat stretch there was mud and the ruts deepened. I tried to run at the edge were the dirt was drier, but in many places the mud was unavoidable.

Two thirds of the way up the trail, the trail becomes more rocky. There was still patches of snow and the Saucony's would slip there, too. I recalled winter runs on my Vasques which are stiff and have big lugs on the soles. Some might consider them clunky, but in snow, which is all I use them for, they are very sure-footed. They grip and hold my foot level, even when on the side on an incline, just like the edge of a ski.

And on the rocks, the Saccony's, slipped, twisting my feet, and I could feel their hard edges of the rocks stabbing into the bottoms of my feet. I had to laugh because the trail was beating the hell out of me.

I thought about some of the shoe ads I just had been reading in Runner's World, just before I went on this run. Ever since the huge success of McDougall's Born to Run, which launched the bare-foot running craze, the shoe manufacturers have been madly engineering a new breed of "minimalist" (their word) shoes. They tout that they are lighter and the heel is closer to the ground so you can "feel" it. I guess this is what they have identified are the key features of the huaraches the great native trail runners in Copper Canyon down in Mexico run on.

Looking at those ads, my Sauconys don't look that much different. The hot new shoes look flashy, but too skimpy for running in the Rocky Mountains. Sometime I'll give a pair a try. A TOJ needs to be open minded. I think within a year or two, there will be lots of clearance sales for these minimalist designs.

Meantime, the run was still awesome. There's nothing like sun, mud, and melting snow. I'll wash up my Sauconys so they are ready to go on the asphalt where they belong.

Intro to "Some Shoes Have Souls. . ."

Some Shoes Have Souls, Not Just Soles




On a rack outside the door to the garage are more than a half dozen pairs of (mostly) trail running shoes of various brands, ages and condition. Some of them are just beginning to fall apart. One pair is only a few months old.

I hang on to several pairs of shoes for lots of reasons. That they are still on the rack means they are good shoes and have some miles left in them. I'm attached to them because they have carried me through beautiful places or protected my feet on hard trails. Until they are totally shot, I won't toss them into the trash. They are like friends to me, with personalities, strengths and weaknesses. They are your soulmates out there and take a lot of abuse so your feet don't have to.

I've never found a perfect shoe for all trail and weather conditions, but I've found shoes that, for me, are perfect in certain conditions. My North Face give a great ride on trails with an even mix of dirt and rock and have lots of grip in all conditions. The Vasques, with Goretex uppers and and a high cuff, are good in snow. The New Balance are great on pavement, which I try to avoid (except for the Bolder Boulder) because asphalt is hard on by two scoped knees. The Montrails are great in the rocks because of the sturdy underfoot padding. When I buy a new pair of running shoes, which is a couple times a year, I usually let one of the other pair go. But I still have one pair of battered Adidas I won't let go, even though the rubber toe protectors are peeling off, because I've had some great runs in those shoes. We are like soulmates.

I bought some of the earliest Adidas and Nike shoes. My first pair of true running shoes were leather topped green and white Adidas Cross Country's. First time I ran on them, I felt a dramatic improvement over the black canvas topped Converse sneakers I had worn throughout my early youth. Running shoes have gotten better and better ever since. Although the shoe business epitomizes planned obsolescence and fashion mania with all the garish designs and lacing gimmicks, the materials, comfort and durability have steadily improved each year.

I figure I save lots of money by not playing games like golf, so I can spend a lot on good shoes for what a set of golf clubs, golf spikes, lost balls and green fees would cost. And I see good shoes as an investment in fun and injury prevention. When you run distance, your feet take a beating. As Gretchen Reynolds pointed out in the New York Times: "The foot is at such high risk of injury largely because it has so many small, frangible parts - 26 bones, 33 joints and more than 100 tendons, ligaments and muscles, any of which can fail." (Experts in her article even recommend stretching your foot to prevent injury. Go to http://footankleinstitute.com/ to learn how.)

If you run very far, say more than a couple miles, the damage can be pretty impressive. Ever wonder why your feet feel sore after a run? Her experts say it's because they have been damaged: "small cracks in the bones, tiny broken capillaries, and fluid build up in bone marrow." Even young, strong runners often suffer stress fractures. Well, as you age, your feet will take even more of a beating because the padding under your foot starts to thin.

All my shoes are snug, comfortable, laterally stable, offer good underfoot protection over the full length of my foot, and they grip the surface I am running on. You want to be able to run for a long time, not just over a few miles, but over many years of your life, for as long as you are able. A smart TOJ needs good shoes.