Wanted! Goretex Trail Runners

This summer I plan on entering a few walking challenges. The OXFAM Trailwalker event, 100k within 48 hours, and the GoRuck Challenge, 15-20 miles with 6 bricks in a ruck with a crap load of push-ups, flutter kicks and a side order of getting wet and sandy. What drew me to these events was not that I think that I'm a good hiker or long distance walker. Quite the opposite, actually. I want to take part in these events because I'm actually terrible when it comes to walking and jogging long distances. It's going to suck, but it's my kind of suck.

Image from REI

One thing that became painfully obvious (literally), was that I needed better shoes. I saw a post on Gear Scout a while back that focused on the Mindbender GTX by Vasque. They are olive green, are built with goretex and seem to take a beating. Perfect, right? Nope, not so fast! As big as Toronto is, finding Vasque shoes proved much harder than I anticipated.

I called both MEC and Europe Bound and found out that although they carried Vasque, neither of them carried the Mindbenders. I emailed and sent a Twitter "at reply" to Vasque to try and figure out where I could find a pair. Unfortunately, no response has been received. So I went to the Running Room and found the Nike Air Pegasus+ 27 GTX. They are grey, with a stripe of cyan. Not exactly my cup of tea, but they were better than a lot of the other options.

They only had a pair that were a half size too small for me, but I figured I'd try them on anyway. I was impressed! Ample cushioning, no pressure points and good support. Off to a good start, at least!

Image from Nike

My next stop was to actually go to MEC and Europe Bound and see if they had any similar options. Luckily Europe Bound had a pair of older Mindbenders, and I tried them on. To my horror, they did not come even close to fitting the shape of my foot. It felt like the arch was missing, and that made my foot roll into the void. Glad I didn't order them online, I laughed to myself.

I tried on about six other pairs of shoes: Keen, Solomon, Merrell, and some more Vasques. None of them fit me as well as the Nike shoes did. So I said my thank yous and went on my way.

Then: a disappointing phone call to Nike after seeing the Pegasus on sale for about $90 instead of the $140 at the Running Room, I came to learn that they don't ship to Canada. (Starting to sound like my Sawtooth review, eh?) Anyway, even if I shipped it to a US address, it would only be a couple extra bucks cheaper after paying for shipping and tax. In the end I think it'll make me feel better to purchase from a local store.

Stay tuned! I hope to grab the Nikes very soon so I can break them in. I'll be sure to let you guys know how they are after I get a few clicks behind me.