Rich's Tongfamily (Richtong.net add-on)

Well, thanks to Alex and Calvin, I’ve ended up getting back into running and it is nice to do the “grandpa shuffle” and be back into good cardio. They also showed me how great a hydration vest can be compared with a bladder. So overall, it’s time to upgrade gear to be on the road. Again, the folks at OutdoorGearLab have done a great job summarizing what works well:

Trail Runners and Vests

These shoes have undergone a minor revolution and having something that is lighter than my 4.5-pound all-leather shoes is going to make getting out on the mountains easier. Also, I don’t think I need the full ankle protection so there are some good choices. The hard part is availability as these high-end shoes are just hard to find in store:

• Salomon S/Lab Ultra 3. These are the top-rated shoes but they are super hard to find. The best place I found was for $190 from Salomon.com. There is a nice discount via cashbackmonitor.com where Active Junky is offering a 12% off rebate. And you get free shipping. The nice thing is that Apple Pay is running a promotion with Amex so it is 10% off of purchases of $50 or less. But this is way more than that, so it doesn’t make sense except for small purchases, but it applies to the Salomon site
• Salomon Speedcross. These are heavy-duty shoes that are designed for good grip in snowy and muddy days. Since we are headed up to the Canadian Rockies having these as backup seems like a good idea. Zappos has a great deal at $108.75 when it is regularly $145 and through cashbackmonitor, Active Junky has a 17% rebate.
• Salomon ADV Skin 12. I tried this on in Norway and it just fits like a glove. Again, this one is tough to find, but it’s $165 direct from Salomon with the same rebate from Active Junky. Expensive, but comfort is king.

Basically these discounts pay for the sales tax in Seattle 😄

Hoka Speedgoat 6 and Ultimate Directions Ultra/6

The two that I almost got were:

• Hoka Speedgoat 6 which is great for fast hills. This one is also hard to find, but REI has it for $155 and they will ship to stores.
• Ultimate Directions Ultra 6. I tried the S/M size for $140, but it was too small. REI has these listed at $149.85, but they are only available directly, you can’t try them on in-store. I found the mesh nice, but I agree that the ADV Skin just really fits like a glove. So a hard choice, I think I’ll try the ADV Skin first because of the comfort factor.