I'm looking for a trail running shoe that will last for the standard 500 miles of running, but then will last for walking/everyday non-running use for a long time afterward.
Suggestions?
I'm looking for a trail running shoe that will last for the standard 500 miles of running, but then will last for walking/everyday non-running use for a long time afterward.
Suggestions?
500 miles of trails...going to be a fun looking shoe for the knocking around thing.
Try the Brooks Cascadia.
Check out Montrail. Usually I have not seen them at running stores, but more at outdoors supply (camping, hiking, etc) stores. Long endurance trail runners i've talked to swear by them, and would never touch adidas, new balance, or anything made by a traditional running shoe company. My wife has a pair that she uses to hike in.
Are you doing well groomed fire-road type trails or technical stuff?
I use the Saucony ProGrid Guide TR, and it's awesome. It has a similar feel to their Paramount road shoe, and handles well on tough, technical terrain. And the upside for you is that you wont look like an asshole kicking around in them after they serve their 500 miles (Brooks Cascadia are pretty good too, but super obnoxious to look at)
Any of the more substantial inov8 shoes would be worth a look as they all last forever.
I've put well over 1000km on my Inov8 Roclite 305's. I'm sure you could go with the lighter Roclites and they'd last as well.
I'm over 350 miles into a pair of Adidas Adizero CS, running roads, dirt, and rugged trails and they show minimal signs of deterioration. The Adizero Ace is essentially the same shoe, as the CS has been continued. Its relatively light at <8 oz and has preformed great for me.
I can't stand traditional trail shoes as they're way too heavy to be nimble on the trails, and I find flats with rubber outsoles to provide more than enough protection from rocks. If you're the kind of runner who needs rock plates and inches of rubber on the outsole, I wouldn't recommend following my advice.
in my experience, trail shoes last longer than road shoes, since the outsoles (my first point of failure in road shoes) tend to wear more evenly on trails. since your handle is "flats," i'll concur with Adizero and suggest a flat-like trail shoe, since depending on your local terrain some gripiness or lugginess might be necessary. my personal favorite is the new balance 790, although i've also had success (albeit blisters on my heels) with the inov-8 f-lite series. to me, the roclite outsole is good only on soft, grassy, muddy, or snowy surfaces, but is uncomfortably stiff on hardpack. i've gotten many (many) hundreds of miles out of each pair of 790s, but they don't make it to the kicking-around-town stage because eventually the uppers tear through repeated exposure to "real" trail conditions (mud, crunchy snow, etc.).