What is a Trail Shoe?
Is a trail shoe an Asics GT-2120 Trail or Brooks Adrenaline ASR, which are very similar to their road sibling, or is a trail runner an aggressively outsoled, low profile shoe without any stability features, such as the New Balance 800 or Nike Air Zoom Kyotee? Most manufacturers and retailers I’ve spoken with agree that a true trail shoe is built low to the ground with deep lugs for traction and has an upper designed to wrap the foot while protecting it from trail debris. These shoes allow the body to do what it has evolved to do in response to uneven trail conditions. One thing I need to be clear about is what I mean when I say, trail. A fire road or cinder path isn’t a trail. It’s not paved, sure, but the movement your foot goes through is similar to what it would do on the roads. These are the surfaces most of us run on. I’m no exception, our local “trail” is a 10k cinder loop called the Little Lehigh Parkway. This is the place the 2120 and Adrenaline do best. If you run on rock and
