What do you wear when you run both road and trail on the same run? I’ve been an Asics Gel-Kayano runner for the past ten years. There have been times I’ve wanted to change and try something new but when prompted to pay upwards of $150 for a new pair of runners, I didn’t want to take the chance and just stayed with what I knew. That was until now….

Being mostly a road runner the Gel-Kayano’s were the perfect shoe for me. But for the past few months I’ve been running anywhere from 3-10 miles a week on trails and have been doing so in the Gel-Kayano’s which didn’t give me any problems. However, I knew I’d get better traction with some sort of trail shoe and since it was time for a new pair my search began.

It’s pretty overwhelming when you Google trail or hybrid shoes and the number of different brands and types the show in the search results. From the well-known companies to the obscure, smaller shops that only specialize in off-road gear.

I then remembered an article in Runner’s World that featured their top selections for trail shoes – they had three in the hybrid category. Perfect! The first pair where Asics Gel Scout, which of course I thought would be a no brainer since I was already an Asics runners. I loved the color, reviews were great, but when I saw they were more for runners with a high arch, which I’m flat footed, I had to move on to the next pair; the Mizuno’s Wave Ascend 7. From the description and the reviews, these shoes would probably be an excellent choice for me but I just couldn’t get over the color. Now I love bright, bold colored shoes but the blue, red and yellow of these just didn’t blend well so I moved on to the next; the Brooks Adrenaline ASR 9.

I chose the Brooks Adrenaline ASR 9 based on the reviews, the type of support it offered and in the picture, these looked pretty dang good; a charcoal mesh with light blue throughout. The Brooks Adrenaline GTSis the road version of the ASR which received Runner’s World Editor’s Choice and made RoadRunner Sports top ten shoe of 2013. So the trail version had to be just as good, right?

I have now run a total of 30 miles on and off road with them and have mixed feelings. When running on the road they are much more stiff and heavier than what I’m used to. Taking them on the trail, however, I felt I could fly! The grip was amazing, the stability I had, the footing secure; it was so fun and I loved them for that.

So all in all I do believe this to be a good shoe but more for the trail and not the road. The good news is they’ll last me that much longer if I just wear them for my trail days and now I get to buy a new pair of road shoes. Hmmm, I wonder which ones I’ll choose?!