[pct-l] shoe replacement

[Diane at Santa Barbara Hikes dot com]

I hiked the PCT the second time around in Brooks Cascadia II.  
Certainly not a minimalist shoe. My bad experience with Montrail  
Hardrocks told me that I shouldn't have a stiff or overly supportive,  
motion-control kind of shoe. The running store salesperson said the  
Brooks or the Mizunos would be better for me. I had never heard of  
Mizuno before so I went with Brooks. It was a pretty good choice and  
allowed me to continue.

I guess us minimalist footwear people kind of hijacked your question.  
I think the most important thing is to know your feet and what breaks  
them and what doesn't. You may not know what they can handle for 25  
mile days, day after day until you try. So definitely pay attention  
to your feet and be ready to get rid of expensive shoes and try  
something if they are hurting you.

Also, expect your shoes to last about 500 miles per pair. That's  
about all the EVA is good for. That's why I think EVA is the devil.  
500 miles is nothing. Shoes should last way longer than that for what  
you pay for them.

On Apr 20, 2011, at 7:29 AM, Toby Maxwell wrote:

> I think that historically I have had pretty durable feet, I am just  
> nervous
> to switch to something that is so dramatically different that what  
> I have
> used in the past and been comfortable with because whether natural  
> or not my
> feet have a pretty significant arch at this point.  When you guys  
> made the
> switch to much less 'supportive' aka to more naturally shaped  
> shoes, did you
> do it gradually? or was it like night and day in that you felt you had
> finally found the shoe for you? I ask because the shoes I am going  
> to start
> with (la sportiva wildcat) are pretty comfy and am curious if they  
> end up
> destroying my feet if I could do more harm by going to something much
> simpler immediately.  I guess its probably a really personal thing,  
> but I'll
> have to keep in mind that foot pain, if it occurs, may be solved by  
> a less
> traditionally supportive shoe which is probably counter intuitive  
> my pop
> culture understanding of feet.
>
> thanks for the great tips.
>
> -Toby