A running Christmas present to myself

Well ok, it wasn’t intended to be a Christmas present, but since I bought it close to Christmas time I guess it will do as a present.

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A couple of weekends ago I went for a long run. Nothing unusual in that. The route I took was a familiar one – down to Red Rocks on Wellington’s south coast. This is always a hard run because it is on soft sand and loose rocks. It really makes the ankles and feet work hard to stabilise you and it a good strengthening workout.

My plan was to run as far as the little stream and then turn back, which would give me about 15kms of beach running. But when I got to the stream, the tide was out exposing rocks that I could use to easily cross the stream. So I crossed and kept on running.

At the 10km mark I decided to turn around and head back. That would give me 20kms of beach running, which should be enough for one day! Combined with the road running to get to the beach and home again the run would end up being just over 40kms long. Not a bad long run effort.

But when I got back on the tar seal again I noticed something untoward. There was a lump under my left big toe. It seems the sole of my shoe had finally had enough and was coming apart. Time for new shoes.

So it was off to Shoe Clinic to see what was on offer. They are nice there. I got my feet measured up and the guy bought me out some shoes to try on. The Hoka One One Challengers seems the best fit, being a bit wider than the others. The sole is super spongy as well, which should help on the longer runs.

I bought then and took them home, only to return them the next day without even dong the laces up once. Showing them off to my wife that night it was obvious that they were too small for my feet. They felt fine in the shop, but back home was a different story.

Back in the shop I tried a half size, and then a full size up. When my feet were measured they were a size 7. The shoes I bought were a size 8 to give my toes some wriggle room. I walked out with a set of size 9 Hokas to try out and see if they would work.

I put them on my feet and walked home in them and was unimpressed. They didn’t feel good at all. I jogged a bit along the way and that didn’t feel so bad. But walking was ugly.

So yesterday I decided I would try them out on an actual run (I have 30 days to run in them and return them no question s asked. That’s the store policy. How nice is that?). I didn’t want to return them but at over $200 I didn’t want to buy a pair of shoes that hurt my feet, or just sat in my closet.

I needed 10 more kilometres to be my previous high score of running kilometres for the month. In September I ran a total of 363 kilometres. I wanted to try and beat that this month. So I headed up to Mt. Victoria to try out my shoes, get so trail time in and get closer to beating my high score.

Since this was only a short run I decided to up the tempo a bit and push a bit harder. Most of the run was uphill until I got close to the summit, then it was down for a bit and then back up again before heading back home.

The shoes actually seemed fine on the road section at the start, light on my feet and comfortably spongy. Pounding up the hill was also pretty easy. My feet felt secure, although the top of the shoe rubbed my toes a bit. Then we were onto the trails, so I hammered it a bit. The grip on these shoes is not impressive. They are more of a hybrid shoes than a hard core trail shoe. But I didn’t slip even once, so I’d say the grip is adequate.

The more I ran in the Hokas the more comfortable I got with them and the more I liked them. A trail shoe should give you that confidence to be able to attack the uphills, bounce over roots and rocky sections and bomb the downhills with ease. I must say the downhills were a lot of fun in these shoes. The spongy soles did a really good job of absorbing the impact from rocks and roots, and my feet never seemed loose inside the shoes, despite them being 2 sizes too big (in theory).

In the end I got back home having covered 9kms. I still need another 2kms to beat my high score. But that’s ok. The main thing I wanted to find out was whether I had made the right choice for my new trail shoes that will hopefully see me through a 100km ultra marathon next year.

It seems I have – the Hokas are good!

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Don’t forget to check out my Dad's blog

Who else can tell you stories about impersonating an officer, stealing a military aircraft to go on a booze run, or steal military aircraft and go on an unsanctioned bombing run - and that's all before he turned 18!

Check out @len.george and find out what other madness he got up to!

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