Im defenatly been a Hiking and Hunter Boot outdoors guy all my life, and I even done Long thru hikes like the Nijmegen march 4 times in full army uniform. In the army i was though that having running shoes, was kind off thing you only wear when having several pain from the boot, or only if supposed to be doing a running exercise session. But I have seen alot lately running, and even hiking with these kind of shoes.
So since Im not in the army anymore, I guess I might been missing some of the trends with trailrunning shoes over Hiking boots, made me at least give it try and see for myself.
After some watching reviews online I bought the Topo Terraventure 2 Trailrunners, practically Im been using them quite a lot in daily life, but I kinda eager to take them on a actually trail, since I knew it was going to get dirty for these kind of shoes. I only have wear them once for a outdoors trip from the video made bellow, and its funny though because almost all my family stayed nice and dry this day, but not me walking with Trailrunners. There is a video that i also made recently:
So lets face it, trailrunners are indeed more comfortable than the normal Hiking Boots. They are also pretty easy to get on and off. They feel more solid build than you normal everyday shoe. They feels way lighter, than a hiking boot and they have a pretty good grip to the terrain too. You will also be able to break many miles on a even terrain, trail or asphalt for sure. And they also might prevent less blister since they ventilate more and and lighter.
But they are also comfortable at least to that degree it docent either tear on you, or get wet, or you loose one shoe on a swamp / muddy river. that is if you dont accidentally also wrist your ancle.
Trailrunners are also pretty expensive, and the ventilating mesh break pretty easy. In fact my pair without taking it to the woods I already see they start to wear on me, compared to both my Salomon GTX or Hunter Boots. So dont get me wrong Trailrunners might be a thing for you and those wanting to do alot of miles following a trail. But If you are going to not follow a trail, or you live in a country like in Norway with a lot of un even and slippery terrain, swamps, muds while you are carring weight, I problaby choose something more mid or high firm. Otherwise there is high risk of getting Sprained Ankles. Turning an ankle over on loose gravel or a steep trail is one of the most common injuries overall, in the world, though in Norway, including the mountains withouth to much vegetation, you have a higher risk of twisting your ancle, and that could ruin your trip. Also you problaby going to get colder and cold feets wearing Trail runners for multiday trips in norwegian weather so I rather take a change on Hiking Boots instead.
My pair of the Terraventure 2 tough, was a bit to small sized, but that was my ordering fault really.. I normally wear 43 on shoes, and 42 on socks so i might give another different brand a chance in the future, depending on what kind of trip im going to do. I do think some shoes like this might help me walk The Nimegen march as a sivilian next time, more easely maybe. But Comparing these to my Salomon GTX, or even The Army Hunter Boots that I normally use in the norwegian woods, i would problaby dont any Packrafting, Hunting, Bushcrafting, Winter trips or off trail to terrain with trailrunners. And might only use them for daily trips instead. Regarding blisters I dont really tend to get them lately. The only time I actually get blisters are if a carry to much weight or Im hiking at very warm weather for a long distance.
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