Call them what you will—hybrid, road-to-trail, gravel—running shoes designed to work well on asphalt and unpaved surfaces are having a moment. Nearly all brands now offer a model in this growing segment.
This hybrid running shoes trend is overdue. After all, most of us who love soft surfaces reach them via paved roads. Consider my mainstay 10-mile loop: It starts with 15 minutes on asphalt, features a middle section of rocky, rooted New England forest trails, and ends with 25 minutes on a combination of dirt, grass, and asphalt.
For most of my 46 years as a runner, these types of routes required compromise. Trail shoes that were firm, heavy, and aggressively lugged made road stretches jarringly unpleasant. Road shoes made me take momentum-interrupting, minced steps on trails; the uppers on some got torn from my off-label use. Now, though, we can have it all, thanks to hybrid running shoes that shine on all surfaces.
The post I Finally Found Running Shoes that Excel on Both Road and Trail appeared first on Outside Online.
