My first post in a month and a half and it’s about a piece of gear related to one of the several things that have kept me otherwise occupied – trail running! (a post about the other big thing that ate my late spring is coming later today).
Yes, I’ve been getting deep into trail running as a way to keep fit, balance out all the time I spend staring at screens, and enjoy the mountainous coastal rainforest I live in (prime werewolf turf). One of the most prominent and trusted voices in the sport, Ethan Newberry (aka The Ginger Runner), just posted a video review of a product that made me realize it was time to overcome the self-annoyance of not having been here in a bit: outdoor gear company La Sportiva’s got a new trail shoe called the Lycan. Says the company:
The Lycan is the ideal Mountain Running® Shoe for training on off-road, rocky terrain where long-lasting sticky rubber and good shock absorption is needed.
Why they think “mountain running” is a registered trademark is beyond me, but I’ll give them a pass because they named a damned shoe after the Underworld-coined term for “werewolf”. Nothing about the shoe’s marketing explains why they went with that name, but as Ethan’s video (linked here, embedded below) and a variety of other online reviews indicate, the shoe does have some werewolfy traits: it’s hard, fast, unforgiving, nimble, grippy, and maybe a little bit bulky. I even like the design, although it seems like they missed an opportunity to add a fur pattern or some other indicator of dangerous animality to the print.
It comes in men’s and women’s styling, with two different colourways for each, and retails for $115 USD. There are places online to order a pair for yourself, but if you’re in the market for something as niche as a running shoe built for trails, you probably already have a go-to merchant where you can try them on. I certainly do, and I’ll be checking them out as soon as I’ve worn out my current shoes.