Hoka's: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly.

The Background
In the past year and a half of running, I feel like I have gone through the entire scope of running shoes. It started no different than most runners with my purchase of road shoes from a well known sporting goods store. I got a pair of Saucony ProGrid road shoes and proceeded to hit the streets. In all fairness, I was new to running, and those shoes served me well for the short time I used them. I knew nothing about feet, pronation, gait, heel strike, or anything else for that matter. All I knew was what the salesperson at the running store told me -- I pronate and need a shoe with extra support. Those shoes didn't last long.

After my first pair of shoes failed me, I started reading up on shoes, feet, gait, form and anything else I could on running "correctly" and efficiently. All of this reading and studying shifted my focus from extra padding and support to more of a minimalist approach. Now, whether you agree or disagree with the minimalist movement, I do have to say that without it, I don't know if my form would have ever improved. It taught me all about the midfoot strike, cadence and all the other good stuff. I was able to get past a couple of nagging injuries and soon became hooked on shoes that help strengthen the feet and connect me with the ground.

Recently, I developed a pain in the forefoot on my left foot, and have a flare up of plantar fasciitis in my right foot. The trails I typically run are very rocky and my minimalist shoes were not making things better. Because of the pain I experienced while running, I found that I altered my stride to avoid pain or to compensate for weakness, which resulted in pain elsewhere in my body. Enter Hoka.

I had a long run in Payson one weekend and decided to visit my local running store, IRun, and pick up a pair of Hoka Stinson Evo. This wasn't a spontaneous, impulse buy. I had a run with the owner of the store months before and told him of some of the problems I had been experiencing. Since that time, he kept recommending I try the Hoka's and I would in turn decline citing the fear of rolling my ankle, or how ridiculous they look. Curiosity finally got the better of me, and I have to say I'm very pleased so far.

The Good
For those of you who don't know anything about Hoka brand shoes, there's one word that can sum up the experience -- comfort. Perhaps the one feature of this shoe that stands out the most is the massive midsole. I mean, look at it! That is one huge midsole! The midsole is all about comfort, and believe me when I tell you that you won't experience anything more comfortable than running in Hoka's. The rocks I would normally feel while running down my local mountains became unnoticeable. My 9 min mile run downhill became an 8 min mile because I could now fly down the trail with less worry about which rock was going to stab me in my arch. There are other features about this shoe that shouldn't be overlooked. The second thing I noticed about this shoe was the quick lace system, which I can now adjust with just one hand -- it's that easy to use! Then, when I stood up and began to walk, I noticed the rockered design of the shoe, which literally feels like you're being propelled forward. The combination of these features make for one great running shoe.

The Bad
While there are a lot of good things to say about these shoes, I do have one big complaint with them. If you look closely at the soles, you will notice the small little lugs on these shoes. That translates to decreased grip when trying to conquer uphill climbs of loose pack gravel, dirt, etc. While on a recent run at Mt Lemmon near Tucson, I found myself cursing the lack of large lugs on these shoes and almost wishing I could swap out the Hoka's for my trusty Inov-8 Roclite 295 for the uphill sections. Other than the noticeable lack of lugs, there's nothing else that comes to mind that I would change.

The Ugly
Let's face it. Look at these shoes. Maybe the look will grow on me, but for now I find these shoes to be incredibly ugly. Hoka has made big improvements on the look of these shoes, but for now I have to give them a 2/5 stars for the look. However, the look of these shoes hasn't stopped me from sporting them on the trails anytime I feel like I need to baby my feet a little.

The Summary
I won't be making the Hoka Stinson Evo my all-the-time shoe, as I still love my Roclite 295s and my Salomon XA Pro 3D Ultra2 (what a mouthful!), but it's nice to have options. I will be using the Hoka's on any run over 10 miles until my feet start to recover, and I will definitely employ them as my go-to shoe for my upcoming races.