Shoe Review

At FlatRock Saturday, I ran in a pair of new, BRAND new, not even available in store new trail shoes: the Mizuno Wave Cabrakans. The Mud Babe pictured with Bad Ben and I is Sophia Wharton, the Mizuno rep for Kansas, and (well, I am not sure how big her territory is.) Sophia had two huge boxes of these shoes at the pre-race dinner, and invited everyone to try them on. This shoe was voted Trail Runner Magazine's Editor's Choice in the new October 2009 issue. They felt wonderful, like old friends on my feet....the kind of shoe that makes you say ahhhh. Then, I could hardly believe my ears when she asked if I wanted to run in them the next day, across the hardest most rugged 50K in this part of the continent, and on a day when mud would be a frequent obstacle. But it was true, and despite the conventional wisdom of never running a race in new shoes, never trying something different on race day, I was thrilled to try them out. It seems they wanted to see how they held up in difficult race conditions, and there is no better course to test them than FlatRock. I was giddy early Saturday morning lacing these puppies up. I had Injinji socks and a thin sock over them. I had also taped my pinky toe that always blisters, and also wrapped my heels that have been barking with PF symptoms. My feet felt safe and secure, but would they be so happy after 15, 25, 31 miles? You would think that out of 50 some-odd runners, there would be more than one brave soul willing to try these new shoes. I was the only taker....the other wearers were Bad Ben and Sophia.

I ran a good race, and the wet conditions made the going a little slower than usual due to a lot of the rocks being slick. I doubt my Trabucos, Hardrocks, or LaSportivas would have had better traction. These shoes were great through the mud, and had enough scratch to prevent slipping through slick mud and thick cakey mud. The good traction pattern did lend to picking up a lot of the clay-like mud, but what shoe doesn't? The toe bumper on the shoe was not massive, but I never felt a rock despite kicking quite a few. The heel cup was stiff enough that I never came close to rolling an ankle. I have strong ankles, but this course is an ankle eater....just ask Brian. And these shoes, despite me running in the factory insoles (I usually upgrade in my trail shoes), my feet did not at all feel beat up. This was a first for FlatRock. Finally, the blister count. Zero. None, nada. I always blister at this course. I usually have the 2 small piggies on each foot a solid blister, and hot spots on the ball of my foot, sometimes on the arch, and on the big toe. But I took my shoes off after the race and my feet were as pretty as a baby's foot.Wish I didn't have to give them back....they will be my next shoe purchase. Sophia, thank you for introducing me to the Cabrakan. :-)