Having run for well over a decade in the ever changing seasons of the Canadian prairies I have fought many battles with the hardened warrior otherwise known as winter trail conditions.
Ankle-deep fresh snow. Ice-slickened asphalt. Road slop like oatmeal or worse, dirty slush.
It is only November yet already the paths have become an assortment of challenging terrain …
… except that back in the late summer I bought a pair of trail shoes.
They haven’t been a perfect winter shoe, but they have made tackling the traction obstacles a formidable challenge rather than an impassible barrier. Unlike my summer sneakers or even previous winter runners I’ve owned, there is a remarkable surefooted stability to be found even in deep snow and icy patches on the sidewalks that I’ve struggled to find elsewhere. I’m sold, and even pullover spikes or other traction offerings that I’ve used over the years don’t seem to fall into a comparable classification as having tested my trail shoes through the abrupt arrival of winter weather this past week.
So I ordered a second pair yesterday.
Kinda. Sorta. Almost.
The summer version, which I own, is a light and responsive shoe meant for muddy paths and navigating narrow gravel trails.
The winter version, that second-ish pair now en route to my house, is a waterproof, insulated version of the same shoe but with grippier soles designed to take on those cold and epic winter conditions and a warmer approach to footwear.
Ice and snow will become far less of an excuse this winter.
I mean, I say that now… ask me again when it’s dark, icy, and minus forty degrees outside this January.