A Step Ahead

It's been quite awhile but that's due to life happening. In the last month I've had to remodel my bathroom, my roof has been leaking, my wife has needed to prepare exams (she teaches high school special ed English and math) so it's been tough to get out, my daughter's been going through a terrible two phase and I've been sick and (slightly) injured. The sick was just a head cold, a couple days and I was good. The injury was worse. Nothing too bad but my Raccoon Creek overnight left me achy. For that trip I wore a pair of Lowa Renegade IIs. They're a nice boot, really comfortable with good ankle support but they don't have the underfoot support I need for heavier loads. On the overnight I did ~11 miles the first day and ~9 the second. The first day my feet felt great, no problems. About halfway through the second day the arch of my right foot started to ache. By the time I finished I had basically repeatedly over-flexed my foot. It didn't hurt, but for about a week afterward it was uncomfortable to the point where I had to wear some type of shoe all day just to support my arch. Needless to say, the Lowa's are going back to REI. I ended up picking up a pair of Scarpa Kailash's to replace the Lowa's. The Scarpa's are much more rigid and supportive while at the same time not being too heavy. Wearing them around the house (while remodeling) to break them in has shown them to be a comfortable boot that I usually forget I'm wearing. I couldn't find a wide size but ordering a half-size up solved that problem. Now it's just a matter of sitting around and getting through the next week and half before the big trip.