[pct-l] When to retire a running shoe

[CHUCK CHELIN]

Good morning,

Shoes for runners face a substantially different problem set compared to
shoes for long-distance trail hikers.  When running on pavement the biggest
reason for shoe retirement is – or should be – degradation of the
cushioning foam in the mid-sole.  When the foam becomes compressed and
“dead” it will no longer efficiently absorb energy and mitigate impact,
even though the remainder of the shoe may look good.

A trail hiker’s foot-strike impact is considerably less than that of a
runner, so I’ve successfully continued to use retired running shoes for
trail hiking.  Even “dead” they still have far more cushioning than what is
found in most traditional boots.

What I find happens to trail hiking shoes is the physical degradation of
the tops and insides.  Sometimes the sole tread just wears out,
particularly if the sole is made from what appears to be a foam rubber type
product, but I’ve retired many total rags that still had serviceable tread.

Typical trail damage that I experience may be – in no particular order:

The strip of sole that extends up the front, center of the toe about an
inch becomes un-glued and begins to flap in the breeze, catching upon trail
features.  The first fix is to tape it up, or glue it, but that doesn’t
last.  Next, I try to cut off the offending piece but then it continues to
peel the bottom of the sole.

The inside, rear fabric of the heal becomes trashed, often quite
quickly.  Sometimes
a few layers of duct tape can be made to stay in place for quite a while,
but I’ve even given up on that.  I just let them gut themselves and it
doesn’t seem to really hurt much.

The top seams where the plastic/leather segments attach to the fabric or
mesh begin to open which not only let the shoes flop, but they admit
considerably more trash.

If one uses the standard marshmallow insoles they will compress and begin
to buckle, fold, and wad-up, particularly when worn wet – which is a lot.

Any plastic-like segments of the top will probably crack open.

Much of the damage to the tops will occur because of the abrasive nature of
trail dust and sand; particularly in the volcanic regions.  That stuff is
very abrasive, and when it creeps into seams it abrades the stitches, and
they fail.

The laces usually acquire frays and knots, and will have been
shortened.  Sometimes
this happens before the remainder of the shoe is trash, and other times the
disreputable laces last as long as the tops.

Steel-Eye

-Hiking the Pct since before it was the PCT – 1965

http://www.trailjournals.com/steel-eye

http://www.trailjournals.com/SteelEye09/


On Tue, Feb 19, 2013 at 8:50 PM, nosirreeb <nosirreeb at yahoo.com> wrote:

> Article in NY Times Well blog. Some interesting info, but no real
> consensus.
>
> http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/02/18/when-to-retire-a-running-shoe/
>
> Ryan Hall, one of the world’s best distance runners, used to pride
> himself on wearing his running shoes into nubs. No more. Now he
> assiduously replaces his shoes after running about 200 miles in them. He
> goes through two pairs a month.
> “I know that my shoes could
> probably handle a couple of hundred more miles before they are worn out,
> but my health is so important to me that I like to always make sure my
> equipment is fresh,” he said.
>
> ...
> _______________________________________________
> Pct-L mailing list
> Pct-L at backcountry.net
> To unsubcribe, or change options visit:
> http://mailman.backcountry.net/mailman/listinfo/pct-l
>
> List Archives:
> http://mailman.backcountry.net/pipermail/pct-l/
> All content is copyrighted by the respective authors.
> Reproduction is prohibited without express permission.