DIARY: New Shoes

I completed my first purchase of racing flats and spikes today to prepare me for cross-country and short road races.

After spending much time choosing between the ASICS DS Racer and the new Nike LunaRacer, I opted for the latter. I'm no fan of Nike (and the design on the latest racer is horrific, but alas it's super-light and offers a surprising amount of cushioning, so I decided to put aside my personal bias against the American giant and give it a try).

For the spikes, I didn't pick anything fancy but just got a steady pair of PUMA Complete TF Allround. At 37.50 euros, they were a bargain!

This means, I know almost have my shoes ready for the new season, with the Salomon XA Pro 3D and Salomon Speedcross 2 filling the gap as training shoes for hard and soft trail respectively. I also have the inferior ASICS Moriko for training on the trail (the Moriko is heavy, unstable, and has poor grip, and should really be avoided).

For the roads, I wary a pair of ASICS Nimbus 9 and the ASICS Gel-Kinsei 2. I haven't quite made up my mind yet which is the better, but I think the Nimbus is still the steadier shoe.

While I have a series of older fell-runner (PUMA Trailfox, Inov-8 Mudclaw and Inov-8 Mudroc), I plan to finalise my racing shoes for next season with the Inov-8 X-Talon 212g, the lightest fell-running shoe on the market as I'm not entirely happy with any of the models I have currently.

So, once you start racing on multiple surfaces, the amount of shoes you need sure racks up!