Housekeeping
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The post
Today is the second Friday of the month. Which means it’s time for Gear Not Stuff.
The concept for Gear Not Stuff is simple.
We live in a world of mass consumerism and have more stuff than ever. As I explained in my book Scarcity Brain, the average home contains 10,000 to 50,000 items.
If we want a new thing, we no longer have the pause of traveling to a store—we can buy it right from our computer, phone, TV, or even yell to Alexa.
We own too much, and curious forces are now leading us to acquire even more stuff …
Consider: Online retailers stole tactics from casinos, leading us to buy more faster. They leverage what’s called The Scarcity Loop. It’s worked on you if you’ve ever bought some crap and immediately regretted buying said crap. More on the power of The Scarcity Loop here.
When we get overwhelmed by how much we own, we often seek minimalism.
But minimalism has failed us (you'll know this if you read Scarcity Brain). Luckily, I found a smarter way we can get more from less …
In thinking about how we can make smarter purchasing decisions, I’ve begun delineating between gear and stuff.
Stuff is a possession for the sake of it. Stuff adds to a collection of (too many) items. We often buy stuff impulsively to fix boredom or stress or to solve a problem we could figure out creatively with something we already have.
Gear, on the other hand, has a clear purpose of helping us achieve a higher purpose.
Gear is a tool we can use to have better experiences that make us healthier and give our lives meaning.
Enter Gear Not Stuff, A monthly column featuring the best gear for different scenarios.
This month’s Gear Not Stuff: Trail running shoes
We covered trail running on Monday and Wednesday. Fall is my favorite season for trail running, and I hope to see you all out there.
But finding a trail running shoe that helps you cover more miles comfortably and safely isn’t so simple. The ultrarunner David Roche recently explained that trail running shoe development has “lagged behind” running shoes.
Consider, road runners now have insane “supershoes” that have fundamentally changed distance running and boosted performance. We haven’t seen that in trail runners.
There are fantastic trail shoes, but they’re harder to find. Much harder …
Enter this edition of Gear Not Stuff.
Over the last five years, I’ve been on a trail running shoe saga—one filled with rolled ankles, blisters, discomfort, and wasted money.
I’ve gone through perhaps 20 to 25 pairs.
Some would start strong but collapse after just 100 miles of wear. Others had their sole literally torn off by the Mojave desert. Others seemed engineered to roll my ankles. Others were unstable, leading to sore knees.
But I’ve finally discovered a handful that are great. Consider it an arsenal of trail shoes that work wonderfully for me—and probably will for you, too.
Before we reveal the shoes and why we picked them, we’ll quickly explain how we tested and categorized the shoes.
Read more: How to Find the Right Exercise Shoe
On the testing and results
I’ve separated the picks into three categories and given one to two picks in each category.
Best overall: These work well for most scenarios and most people most of the time. They strike a balance between comfort, performance, and cushion.
Best cushioned: For those who like to run with lots of cushioning—the footwear equivalent of Cadillacs with four-wheel drive.
Best zero-drop: For those who prefer and run better with no drop.
We have selections from four different brands: Arc’Teryx, Solomon, Hoka, and Altra.
I’ve also named an alternative in some categories and, at bottom, listed a few shoes I want to try.
Even if you don’t trail run, more hikers and ruckers are using trail runners. Trail runners are lighter and faster than boots but often more supportive, grippy, and protective than road running shoes.
Let’s roll …
