Michael: Stocked Up

The night is lonely

Without her sleeping with us

Curled between our feet.

 Wednesday, January 8, 2020



As I descend into purchasing purgatory, I am at least comforted by the fact that Santa Michael had the foresight to stock up well on all the candles to get me through this abysmally dark credit card-less winter.



By candles, naturally, I mean shoes and apparel; but first and foremost – shoes.



Knowing that I’ll have three ultras to start off the new decade meant choosing the right arsenal of footwear. Last year I started off with Inov8 260 Ultras and Hoka Torrents. They worked very well for me at the beginning of last year, but I’ve dropped the Inov8s because on subsequent trail runs my left heel has been painful. This isn’t a new development, and I know the long term solution goes beyond footwear choices, but if a shoe can’t keep my heel from hurting on two hour training runs after being used in just a few races, I’m going to look at other options.



I’m still a fan of the Torrent’s and will probably have them in the line up for the Sycamore 100k in February, but after researching on the net and looking for good sales, I’m going to start the year off with Hoka Speedgoat Evo’s with the Saucony Peregrine ISO’s held in reserve.



The Speedgoats are a complete surprise and I only tried them after being reassured by many reviews that they’re very much different than the first iteration which were far too narrow for my feet. The Evo’s, at least on my first few training runs, feel great. But the true test will come this Saturday at the SOB 50k.



The Peregrines are also super comfortable so far and would seem to have a better tread for wet weather. That’s why I got them. It’s was hit or miss last year with the rain and mud here, so I wanted to be prepared with a shoe that would work well in those conditions. The Peregrine’s seem more than stout enough and also light enough to use even under dry conditions. Not sure when I’ll test them out under race conditions; that’s partly up to those babe forecasters on all the news channels, but I may just give them ago in March at the Valencia 50k regardless.



Either way, I believe I’m entering 2020, at least the first quarter, with confidence that my feet will be happy campers. Though I’ll also admit that whether these shoes work well or not, I am looking forward to trying out a few other choices once I’ve paid my three month penance.