I took up volleyball thinking I’d be like the beautiful blonds who run around on the beach in their bikini’s and jump around and hit balls. Wrong, I was a fat Korean girl who was born with two left feet, sporting mustard yellow gym shorts trying not stick out during tryouts. Little did I know that running was part of this whole ordeal.
Many moons later I do have all the years of embarrassment to thank for becoming a semi-regular runner in my thirties. Though I was never a star of any of the sports I played from JR High School to High School, you could count on me to show up, do the drills and cheer for my teammates. And luckier for me that stuck with me, now I run 2-3 times a week and try to go to the gym at least once a week.
So when I was considering doing the PCT, I knew I had to step up my game, and the first thought that came to mind was- shoes. 2,650 miles, think about it, that’s about 13,992,000 in feet, so one of the significant gears on this trek would be the shoes. And to be honest with you I have never been a huge fan of hiking shoes, first off they are massive, clunky, and did I mention that I have two left feet.
Shoes have come a long way, however; I didn’t know that trail running shoes existed till I started to search online. There are some differences from running shoes, but very minimum; I tried the ASICS GT-2000 4 Trail running shoes for women, and so far so good. I’ve tested them out walking the dog, running in the park and walking on different types of terrain to see if they would make the cut. I’ve got to say ASICS hit it out of the park, for the running and walking aspect I didn’t forsee any issues. However, b/c there’s no ankle support I had some hesitation. But to my surprise, the support on the bottom of the shoe is stable, enough that my ankle felt sung, like a well-fitted glove.
I’m going to keep testing them out, and want to use them for the El Camino De Santiago; that’s just 500 miles. One pair should suffice for the whole trip, and that would be the ultimate test before the PCT. If you’re like me and want comfort, flexibility, and stability, this pair might be the one for you.