Hiking in Trail Runners

I don't think you need shoes with more support and cushion. That would be a step in the wrong direction. You just need to hike more and condition your feet for all of that abuse.

For the sand you should get some gaiters. They will keep things out of your shoes. These gaiters are very popular on this forum: http://www.dirtygirlgaiters.com/

> the swell from my feet from the shear amount of mileage made the shoes not wide enough
Happens all the time. Allow a full size for foot swelling, and start with the right (measured) width.

Cheers

+ 1 on the feet conditioning. (With the caveat, of course, that the conditioning should be done in good shoes.)

Just out of curiosity, what kind of mileage makes for a "long" day for you right now (or even a normal hiking day)? You mentioned that you were working your way up to longer days and more days in a row, so it would definitely be useful to know where you are now and where you want to be in the future.

We hit 56.1 Miles in 4 days in the canyon in that timeframe. I think its a conditioning issue/and a swelling issue as I was just not used to that. My lungs/muscles were rocking..so it was dissapointing to me that my feet were that much of a weak link.

Gaiters are something I thought of..the shoes were allowing the sand in through the front of the tongue if that makes sense…. I really really think no sand= no blisters. I switched from Wool Runners to Thin Cotton socks on the trail and that helped in terms of room. I also had to stop a few times to dump out my shoes.

So just hiking long distances with some weight is what I should have done to better prepare…live and learn!

After doing a few trips in the Mountain west in merrell trail gloves…I quickly learned that if I'm hiking in the mountains here, 80% of every foot plant is usually on a rock, or scree, or something else hard and pointy. No blisters or anything, and my calves/ankles felt fine…just the bottom of my feet felt bruised and battered. So…I changed to a slightly less minimalist merrell mix master 2….which had a rock plate…which is now the minimum I'm willing to take, and I've been enjoying them thoroughly.

I found with some trail runners that the mesh allowed sand or grit inside the shoe even when wearing gaiters. Hiking on the Florida Trail a few years ago in Salomon XA Comps I had all kinds of problems with this. More recently I've tried some Inov8 trail runners which have a smooth nylon fabric, and found my feet were clean at the end of the day — no grit, sand, or dirt.

Dunno if you need more support or cushion – not enough information. What shoes were you wearing? What sort of shoes or boots have you worn backpacking in the past? What sort of weight were you carrying? Have you worked on making the transition to lighter shoes, or did you go from leather boots to minimalist barefoot zero drop trail runners in one go?

Also, hiking at 3.5mph is really fast. That would give me blisters for sure, even more so with sand in my shoes :)

It is amazing where grit ends up. At the end of each day I pull out the insoles and clean out the little holes in the forefoot area, shake out the shoes and give my socks a good thrashing on a clean log. Another thing to consider is to dry off the feet at lunchtime – slip off the shoes and socks and prop feet, shoes and socks in the sun to dry.