More Shoes Than A Princess

Tuesday's on the Run asks What’s your running shoe situation? Are you loyal to one shoe? A polyshoeist?  This one sounded fun to me because my shoes are completely not normal.  It's also impressive how many photos I have of my shoes. In general, my shoes are zero drop, pretty minimal.  I run and lift weights, sometimes in the same workout without wanting to change shoes.  I use my Garmin app to track mileage for all but the 'everyday' shoes.

Winter Running and Trail Running: Altra Lone Peaks.  These are the shoes I ran VDay 5K and Hot Dash in during those snowy episodes.  I originally got these when I was training for the William O'Brien 10 Miler.  These get heavy use on grass trails and in snow.  They kind of sit around all summer when I'm out on the roads.

Winter Running, Trail Running, and Weight Lifting: NB Minimus Trail.  How happy am I that they re-released this shoe?  This is one of the few shoes I've paid full price for.  I use this shoe when I'm going to run and then lift in the same workout.  It fits more snugly and works better for weight lifting than the Altras, but it lacks the extra cushion and warmth of those shoes. Bonus note: My original NB Minimus lives at Mom and Dad's and are my running shoes while I'm home.

Non-winter Road Running and/or Weight Lifting: Skora Phase-X  I have this shoe in two colors.  Both pairs are an older model with extra reflective panels.  This is an extremely minimal shoe and I double down on the concept by taking out the insoles as well. These soles are extra sticky and I love them in the rain.  These are the shoes I wore in that very wet 10 Miler last year.

Road/Trail Hybrid: Merrell Trail Crusher.  Sometimes I have runs on crushed limestone trails, or alternating between non-technical trail and roads.  In those conditions I don't want a super lugged out trail shoe, but a road shoe isn't my first choice either.  These are a happy medium and I love them.  I wore these for the TC 10K and 5K this year because they had a little more cushion for my first day of a 2 day race series.

Walking and Everyday: Altra Intuition have been my go-to for an 'every day' shoe that I can also take really long walks in.  This is what I wore for walking half marathon training and the race itself.  Apparently we're doing this again in 2018 so my 3.0 model should be well worn down by September.

Summer running and indoor running: Xero Cloud.  I bought these on a total impulse/black Friday sale.  So far I've only worn them inside on the track because frostbite is not my thing.  Did I tell you about our blizzard? I'm excited to wear them outside in the summer for running.  I'm also picturing them as the shoes I wear if I'm walking around the lake and want to swim, or kayaking, etc.

Bonus everyday shoe: I bought a pair of these in that same Black Friday sale as I got the huraches.  They were small and easy to pack so I threw them in my bag at Christmas and wore them around Cincinnati.  They immediately became my favorite casual shoe in life. Right now they're strapped to my work bag as my 'indoor shoes' when I go into people's houses and take off my boots at the door.