shoe review

You all know I am a shoe ho. I do try a lot of different ones, and try to be open minded about new things, but still I am very picky on what I'll wear in longer races. Something that bugs you a little on a short run will give you fits on a long run. From time to time, I find a shoe I REALLY like. I have wore Asics Trabucos in the past. For me, they are a good shoe for every day trail running, and can work well on shorter road runs. But wearing them much beyond 50K, I felt they were possibly lacking in stability and cushioning. The new Asics Trabuco 12s seem to be the shoe that I can count on to get me through the later miles of a hundred. They have enough cushion--not a lot, but enough--to keep the bottoms of my feet happy after 60-70 miles of running on rocks. I am not sure if they have a "rock plate", but suffice to say that they keep the pointy-side-up rocks from harpooning the soles of my feet. While they are limber enough for road running (I have wore them on the river trails for several 4-10 mile runs) they are stiff enough in the heels to keep my feet from wallowing when on uneven terrain like stepping on the sides of big rocks, and sloshing through that slick side-hill section of trail that I didn't mean to go through. How will they be after 400 miles? I will find out in a month or so, but right now, I say they are keepers.In the stylish black/cement/army color combination, they look good (and you know how important that is.) Throw in a little mud and dirt and they fit right in with my other shoes. Plus, with the black and green, they'll make great lawn mowing shoes when I retire them,.