I am done with Cascadias! I haven't ran that many miles in these shoes this year and every time I run in them they hurt my feet. I bought them because I'm a sucker for what big name ultrarunners endorse, or at least I used to be. I've found, over the last several months, that footwear is really a personal issue. Like trying to determine whether or not you like the way something tastes. No one can tell you if a pair of shoes is good for you - or no shoes for that matter - it's just something you have to figure out as you go. That said, Cascadias are not good for me or my feet. I tried on the Altra Lone Peaks yesterday and I liked them a lot. I also tried on the Hookas for the first time and I liked them a lot as well. They feel like your walking on marshmallows. Whether it's the Hookas or the Lone Peaks I'll be switching trail shoes before I hit the trail again. My shoe bitching aside, the trail was pretty fun. I went up the BST from City Creek to the towers on the top of the mountain. I thought about taking the trail down into North Salt Lake and coming back but that downhill off the ridge made me think about the uphill I would just have to face latter. Instead, I decided to turn right at that junction and just head up to the top of the mountain. The idea was that I would just get the up hill out of the way while my legs were pretty fresh. In retrospect I'm glad that's how I did it because my legs were tired by the end. It was 2,229 feet of vertical gain, all of which came in the first 5 miles. The first 3 miles is all up hill, and some of it is pretty steep. after 3 it mellows out for a while, some rolling hills, then its straight up hill to the tower. The ridge at the top was very windy, and since it's only 35-40 degrees here that meant it was also very cold. My nose and cheeks were frozen until I got off the ridge. I tried to speed up on the way down but my legs (quads) were pretty tired and my shoes were hurting my feet. I wonder what I could do with good shoes on that trial.
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