OR Summer MKT- Raced the GoLite Trail Runner

Went out early Saturday morning to Park City to run the Jupiter Peak Steeeplechase , a 16 mile trail run to the summit of Jupiter Peak and back. I ran in the new GoLite trail runners, right out of the box. The shoes were pre production, basically hand built and the folks at GoLite told me there is still some tuning to do.

My impressions:

Best shoe on the downhill I have ever run in. The "leaf spring" lugs which effectively put soft on the trail and hard under the foot described in a previous post really work as advertised to smooth out the run down. Never came close to turning an ankle and for a downhill chicken had complete confidence in my footing. The surfaces were relatively smooth, compared to NH, but this still was serious mountain terrain. No blisters. The forefoot is a bit stiff, a least compared to the total flexibility of the Inov-8, but I understand this first group of shoes ended up a bit stiffer than planned. GoLite is a strong and innovative contender right out of the box in the trail shoe horse race. I look forward to trying some of the other models in the line, including those intended for training and rougher trails.