For me, this is a big shift. I do a lot of my miles on trails, and have a 50k coming up in (gulp) 2 weeks, so I'm counting on these for a lot. They weren't the pair I was planning on getting.
My first ever pair of trail running shoes was a pair of Mizuno Wave Ascends. They were great for around 350 miles, then suddenly weren't very great at all.
After that, I got a pair of Brooks Cascadias. Those were awesome. So awesome, in fact, that when those wore out, I got a second pair.
That second pair was even awesomer. They were, after all, just as good functionally as the first pair. Plus they were red. Awesome + red = Awesome-er.
Anyway, they were awesome enough to get a *third* pair of Cascadias. This involved moving from the Cascadia 4 to the 5.
The 5s were awesome, but not quite as awesome. The toebox seemed narrower, which is often an issue for me. Still, they gave me many good runs – including the trail marathon I ran last week. That said, it was clear during the fourth hour of that marathon that it was time for a new pair of trail shoes.
I was just planning on getting an unprecedented fourth pair of Cascadias, and I'm pretty sure I would have, but the store was out. So I figured, what the hey, and tried on what they had at the store. And the Asics Trabucos felt pretty darn good. So I took the leap.
The 10-mile review: they feel good. I do have some worries, related to ankle turns. They land a little different than the Cascadias, in certain situations. I feel like there are times when I landed with a rock or root or something that was a little high at the outside of the foot, and on the Trabucos, they sort of 'give' a little, where the Cascadias kept everything flat on the bottom. I'm really hoping that I get used to that.
I don't think that this is because the Trabucos are a stability shoe – because, despite what some websites say, I don't *think* that they are a stability shoe. Some shoe guides have them listed as such, but Helen saw no signs in the shoe itself; I saw no signs on the Asics site that they're made for stability. They seem, over all, not unlike the Cascadias.
Like the Cascadias, they have a decent heel, which I like, even though it's out of fashion among trail runners. The toe box is a bit wider, which I also like. Padding seems a little harder than the Cascadias, but not a lot.
It's hard moving away from something that works, but for now, I'm optimistic. My biggest worry? I should have gotten last year's model – the Trabuco 12. Didn't think I'd ever go with such an unlucky model number. But here it goes...
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