Trail Running Shoes

Montrail Highlander (Women's)

Trail Running Shoes

Trail running shoes, do you need them? After our Tues. night trail
run this week where one of the runners rolled her ankle three times
(she's fine), I started thinking about it. She runs the trails in
road shoes, which is ok to a point. If you're serious about getting
out on the trails I would suggest investing in trail shoes for the
following reasons:

Lower profile soles - road shoes tend to be "higher" with more
cushion, which may facilitate ankle rolling. Lower profile soles offer
more lateral stability.

Harder soles - trail shoes have a denser and sometimes even a plastic
plate on the bottom of the foot, protecting your soft tootsies from
sharp rocks and roots.

Toe protection - this is a biggie. Smash your toe on a rock or get it
caught under a root and you'll know why toe protection is important.
Trail shoes often have a very thick rubber toe cap.

Tread - trail shoes often have knobby tread compared to the relatively
slick road shoe tread.

Finally, the upper material - the material over the top of your foot
is almost indestructible on trail shoes. It also expels water from
the shoe much more efficiently than road shoes.

That's it! My favorite brand is Montrail. I've run in almost all of
their models and l-o-v-e them. Unfortunately, Montrail was recently
bought by Columbia (the sports clothing company, not the country), so I'll be watching very closely for changes in the shoes (cost cutting, quality, etc).

Anybody have other shoe suggestions?