Allison's Big Toe

Kangaroo Leather is Awesome

Before:

After the trail / mud / water run:

My sister and I ran a 7 mile route through Sycamore Canyon in Malibu, CA this morning, on the maiden voyage of my new KSO Treks. There were about 10 stream crossings that we had to jump/rock hop across, very rocky terrain, and even a baby rattlesnake sighting. I’d never actually seen one before! Glad the mountain bikers warned us, and that it was time to turn around anyway :)

I was happy I got to test the shoes on so many different variables (rocks, mud, water). We’ve had a wet winter, yet the streams were unexpected, and the shoes held up wonderfully. The KSO Trek soles are 4mm thick, and while I could feel the rocks underneath, they weren’t painful like they would have been in my 2mm KSO soles. As far as mud went, the soles were quite grippy and I didn’t slide around much. The best part was the water crossings. I’m very impressed how water resistant these shoes are. The first time they got wet, the water just beaded up and rolled off the shoe without getting my toes wet. Subsequent partial submergings did leak through, but the water seemed to drain out and I didn’t feel any sloshing around, just a little dampness between the toes. Very nice.

Oh, and the kangaroo leather was silky against the skin and didn’t rub anywhere. Only drawback is that I didn’t get all the stares and questions about my footwear that the green/grey KSOs always prompt. (Yes, I like the questions!) I guess the brown leather doesn’t stand out very much. Don’t think people even saw the toes.

I have faith these shoes will carry me through many lovely trail runs, including the 1/2 marathon in Hungary this summer through what they promise is a hilly course through sand, dirt, and grass.

My pace for the run was 9:48 minutes / mile.  I stopped the garmin when we did the stream crossings, so this was just the speed of actual running time. At the 6.2 mile mark, I was just under one hour, so I think next weekend’s goal is doable! I plan to run a short run maybe Tuesday, and then rest until Saturday. I still like that it’s a 10K for my 10th race. I’ve already decided to try to find a ~15K trail race in May to prep for the 1/2 marathon in June. Hopefully there’s something local. 

Race review next weekend! Have a great week, everyone!