Trail Running: I mainly use the Salomon Sense Ride shoes for trail running.

If you are someone with ankle issues though I would recommend wearing a shoe with extra ankle support on backpacking trips. I don’t tend to love wearing boots with ankle support for hiking activities, so for me these are awesome backpacking shoes. They have great traction, are light, and offer some weather protection.

Backpacking: These are usually the shoes I will use on backpacking trips.

As someone who runs on a lot of rocky trails and commonly kicks rocks, that has been an awesome feature! Many trail runners have the rubber stop at the bottom of the front of the shoe, but on the Sense Ride shoes, it kind of wraps up a bit to offer some protection to your toes. This is due to the rubber on the front of the shoe.

Toe protection: These trail runners have more toe protection than many other trail runners.

Though this offers some waterproofing, it still feels pretty breathable. The upper part of the shoe is a mesh material with a GORE-TEX membrane (this is what the GTX stands for in the name).

Material: The sole is made out of an EVA Rubber, which offers pretty good traction and better support when running downhill.

As someone who has had two knee surgeries, I don’t mind the extra cushion! For the average person that isn’t looking to do ultra marathons, this shoe is a comfortable weight. I also didn’t mind the extra weight because most of it was due to the EVA rubber cushioning on the bottom. Those shoes were really heavy and clunky, so these were an awesome upgrade. I was upgrading from some really old tennis shoes that I had bought eight years prior while in high school. For me, it was my first pair of trail runners and I was mostly doing distances between 6-12ish miles, so weight wasn’t a massive concern. There are more bare-bones shoes out there that are lighter.

Weight: These shoes are relatively light for all they do (the extra cushioning on the sole and the GORE-TEX membrane offering waterproofing) but they are by no means an ultra-lightweight trail shoe.

That’s the size I went with for these, and they have been awesome.

Fit: I have a relatively average foot width, and am a pretty solid 6.5.The lacing system is super easy to use and adjustable although I haven’t had to mess with that too much either because it was really comfy right off the bat. They are pretty lightweight and the sole has a bit of extra rubber without being so overly thick that it feels like you are walking in heels (as I have found that some running shoes, such as HOKAs tend to feel like). I still haven’t had any issues with them that are break-in related. I didn’t find any hot spots or any areas to be uncomfortable the first few times either. Break-in period: They honestly didn’t have a break-in period.While I’m sure they make great shoes, my experience with other Nike items dissuaded me from purchasing shoes from them. As for the Nike shoes, I was hesitant because I have a few of their shorts and sports bras that I found did not last very well. Since this was my first pair, I didn’t want something so intense, and I thought the extra rubber might make them too hot in the summer. I thought the Speedcross shoes were a little too intense because they were heavier and had more rubber across the entire shoe to give it better waterproofing. The other options I kept seeing in my search were the Salomon Speedcross Trail Runners, and the Nike Pegasus Running Shoes.

I live in Utah where there are muddy trails in the winter and I didn’t want to have any days where I couldn’t run because I was worried about my feet getting wet. Added to that, I liked that there is a bit of weather protection with the GTX. They don’t have a tie system, it's more of a cinch, and I thought that was a cool feature that might save me some time on tying my shoes. I had also seen a lot of friends who ran a bit more than me wearing them, so that confirmed my suspicions that they must be good shoes. There were a few others that kept coming up too, but Salomon was a brand I had heard of and since I liked their ski gear, I thought it was worth a shot. I had done a little research on the best trail running shoes and these kept coming up. I bought the Salomon Sense Ride shoes for a few reasons. I didn’t know a ton about running shoes at the time because I was just starting to run, but I also wanted something that was lighter and that seemed to have good traction.

At the time of purchasing these shoes, I was just getting into trail running and wanted something that would be a good fit and not give me blisters.

Solomon sense ride 4