Nike Air Pegasus +29 Trail--A Shoe Review

*As with every post that has been published over the last year and a half....this was supposed to be published many months ago...but life is life. Here it is for better or worse. 

Stretching the old legs with a few good friends at the Georgia Industrial Children's Home

        This past Christmas I opened a box that I wasn't expecting (I know, I know, its almost this Christmas!). I had the item on my Wish List, but I never expected to get it. And that item was a very flashy pair of Nike's Air Pegasus +29 Trail shoes. Many of you may remember that I once did a full a complete review of the regular version of Nike's Air Pegasus +29. You can reread the post here. And I will attempt to do the same for the trail version as well. However, I do not have the same amount of experience with the trail version of the shoe as I do with the road version.

The fancy shoes ready for action. 

      I asked for the trail version of the Pegasus shoe because most of the training we do for cross country is done on trails and the races the team participates in are run on mostly trail-like terrain. No, we aren't running races in the Rockies or even the Appalachians, but we are running on wooded trails with odd grades, exposed roots, loose rocks, mud, heavy vegetation, and mountain bike ruts. And the races the team runs are held on everything from single track mountain bike trails to livestock fields where the perimeters have been mowed down for a little bit easier trans-versing. So...I wanted to try out a pair of trail shoes instead of the normal running shoes I usually sport as a coach and as a runner. I have previously owned a pair of Montrail trail shoes and though they looked neat and I had great ambition of all I would accomplish in them, they never quite measured up to their reviews. I know there are many people who put their complete trust in the Montrail brand and I know that you can't judge a brand by a single pair of shoes, but I don't think they're for me. We had to break up. It was me, not them.

The Pegasus +29 Trail shoes in motion. 

           Before cross country season, I only took the shoes out of the box and wore them one time because I was saving them for the season. And so, I was very eager to see how they would perform. This year, we held our pre-season XC camp at Fort Yargo State Park and it ended up being a great place to use the shoes and during the season, we practiced five days a week on rocky and wooded trails. I was not sure how the shoes would perform and hadn't ever gone through a XC season wearing official "trail" shoes. For the past seven years as a coach, I have only worn regular running shoes and in my brief few moments as a collegiate runner, I only wore regular running or racing shoes. I feel most people do this because the whole mindset of wearing trail shoes for cross country is not a common one. I think in the eight years I been coaching XC, I had a single runner who wore trail shoes for our training runs. I guess most people assume all running is on a track or on the roads because that is the type of running that occasionally makes it on tv. This would make sense because XC is not track, but most people I know always refer to XC as track; even those who know differently. No, not "real" runners (who ever that really is), but everyday people. I never mind, but know there is already some person on Letsrun.com calling me "hobby jogger" with all the rage of someone whose life revolves around an online message board.

 

       Trail shoes have come along way in the past several years. I know I ran a 15k trail race several years ago and when I contemplated purchasing a pair of trail shoes, there just weren't that many choices for the "hobby" runner who wasn't putting on his shoes to go run the Leadville 100 or some other equivalent race. I instead ran the race in an old pair of New Balance 993's because the race had several stream/chest-high river crossings. However, trail running is becoming more and more prevalent as American runners consume road races like they do everything else and as people move away from the roads and to the trails to avoid the crowds of strollers and the lack of "serious" runners. Now, most every larger shoe company is putting out several trail models for each of the major types of runners. And the shoe companies who are producing these "trail" models are making them more like road racing shoes than the older models which had more in common with hiking shoes or boots than with running shoes. And that has been a welcome move for runners who divide their time between trails and the roads like I do. 

"...getting to the bottom of it all..."

        Nike has been making shoes that can be worn on a trail since the early 1980's. They began with shoes that resembled hiking boots, then began their infamous, "All Conditions Gear" line, that lasted till the mid 90's, but has been resurrected recently, then came the Air Terra verisons of shoes, and now we are seeing a new line of ,"Zoom Wildhorse/Terra Kiger" shoes. This is a very shortened history, but if you need more, you can see some pretty neat pictures and read some interesting factoids here. The Air Pegasus line issued a trail model in the mid 90's and has had one since then. The Pegasus line originally teamed up with Nike's ACG line, but soon just began putting out their own trail versions of their popular shoe. I hadn't really noticed the trail version of the Pegasus line till a few years ago. 

     The Nike Air Pegasus +29 Trail shoe is a good all around shoe for light to medium trail runs and races. One of the reviews I read mentioned you could use it for road running, but on the days we would run on concrete, I'd bring different shoes or spend several minutes during the run wishing I did so. They feel ok on concrete, but the lugs that are on sole do make it add friction to the run; not by a lot, but enough to feel it. They do offer a shoe were the outer is made with GoreTex and that is great for those of us that hate running with wet feet and socks. I do not have that version, so on the days the courses were wet and muddy, my feet would be the same on runs that lasted longer than forty-five minutes. However, I would say the outers of this version did better to keep liquids out than the road model which seems to feel wet the moment I run near liquid.

       

    Overall, I was impressed with the range of the shoe. It reacted well to each of our workouts and was a consistent shoe in its behavior. Whether we were running a speedwork session on trails, strides, hill work, long runs, or even in race conditions, the shoe seemed to be the right shoe for me. The only two cons I can think of about the shoe were the already mentioned fact of they weren't the crossover shoe that the reviews talked about and for the way the shoe began feeling when I had run for longer than an hour and a half. After that time, the shoe did not cushion my tired feet the way I really needed, but for runs that are up to 10 miles, they felt great. 

    To make it easier for you to think about the shoe and to make this post more like a review than a ramble, I am going to break this review down into some short sections based on the different facets of the shoe:

1. Aesthetics--The Nike Air Pegasus +29 trail shoe is a sharp looking shoe and one that will get noticed. I have received many compliments about the look of the shoe from much younger and much more hip people than I. Although, I originally felt they were a little too flashy for my taste, they grew on me and I really like the way they look. And I'm not too sure you can buy even a mid-range shoe these days that aren't flashy in some way. 

2. The Outer Layer--The outer layer of this version is more solid and tighter than the road model. I feel that I could run through some pretty muddy and wet conditions and still have somewhat dry-ish socks. Yes, I would have very wet feet if the trails ended up being one deep puddle after the next, but overall, the outers allowed my feet to stay somewhat dry. No, if I ran through a puddle or creek that ended up being several inches deep, my feet would not stay dry.  

3. The Insole--The insole of the trail model is exactly the same as the road model. It needs to be replaced as soon as possible. This is one of the few not so great things about this shoe, but I'm not sure this category would get high ratings no matter the shoe or brand. To be honest, before I started running, I never took much notice of this part, but since I've been running, this is a facet of shoe design that I always end of replacing with something that is much more substantial. This shoe was no different. I put about 20 miles on this shoe before I phoned my dad and had him order me the running specific orthotics from Foot Levelers that really are amazing. They really do change the whole running experience for me; especially when I've been running without them. 

4. The Midsole--I often get many eyes rolled at me from my high school students for generalizing, but I will take that risk here. For me, in the few trail shoe models, I have worn, the midsole feels very rigid and after awhile seems to hurt my feet because it its seemingly lack of flexibility. This shoe was much different. The midsole felt much more akin to a road shoe. It was very flexible, not Nike Free flexible, but about 100x more flexible than the Montrails I once owned. Many "serious" trail runners and racers desire this rigid midsole, but this guy does not. 

5. The Outsole--This is the facet of the shoe that I feel is the most different than the road model. Both the road and the trail models use Nike's "Cushlon" technology and from the left sides of the shoe, they same to look very similar, but...but...but for me, the feel could be anymore different. Although, I love the Pegasus road model, there are times that I wish that the shoe was a little more responsive. No, not all the time, but occasionally, like during 200 repeats or at the end of a 5k, I wish I could feel the surface a little better, so that I could respond a little more quickly. I know that seems strange, but for me it is true. The Trail model however, feels much, much different and not in a bad way. I felt the shoe was very responsive to the terrain in way that was advantageous for the runner. I am not saying that I could "feel" the rocks, roots, etc. and that inhibited my runs, but could feel them in a way that allowed me to decide how to run over them in better way. I know this sounds a little hoaxy, but if you run, you know what I mean. 

6. The Lugs--Last, but least are the lugs, or what what non-weirdos who know too much about shoes refer to as the bottom sole of the shoe. In many of the trail shoes I have seen or looked at, the soles look like they are far too aggressive for the terrain that I spend time running on, but the Pegasus Trail seems to have found a happy medium for people who run like I do and where I do. As mentioned before, I am not running in mountainous terrain with rock faces, steep ascents, or treacherous descents, but I do run 100's of miles each year on trails with exposed rocks, rock debris, exposed roots, mountain bike ruts, fallen branches, little streams, etc. and at times I will gain and lose a lot of elevation over a long run due to a lot of ups and downs on the trails. This XC season, I felt a lot more secure will running due to the fact that I felt the soles of my shoes were handling what I was running over. I am not a graceful guy and usually do some falling and tripping during my runs, but this year, this was kept to a minimum and I give credit to the lugs on this shoe. They were sturdy and strong, but also flexible, which worked great for what I used the shoes for.  

     I have now put about 200+ miles on the shoes and I'm about to bring this post to a close, I will say that I would easily feel pretty good about buying another pair of these great shoes and plan on doing so. I always think that this is the largest compliment someone can give to a product of any sort. If I get the priviledge of coaching XC next season, then I will probably order another pair of these shoes and give them a drive over the many places we run here in Georgia. If fact, just thinking about it, makes me pretty excited. Few things beat a good run in the woods with my runners during XC season. 

Happy reading and happy running (trail),

DAVID