Friday, December 17, 2010

An easy mod for winter running

I recently grew tired of chilled feet and having to resort to my road shoes or boardy Goretex trail rigs that are too stiff for road running. I also didn't want to have to spend $125 for a winter shoe that I only use 2-3 months out of the year. I couldn't find a nice running overshoe to fit my ultralight trail runners. So, I purchased the Pearl Izuumi Barrier Shoe Cover for bikers and made some very simple modifications and am able to put them on any of my 6 or 7 other running shoes as I see the need. COST : $50. Cut underfoot/midfoot webbing to separate sides.
Cut out about half of the rubber under the toe to reserve enough to just wrap underfoot.
Wrap to toe rubber under the shoe and pull the overboot tightly back towards the heel.
Fold under the flaps left from slicing the underfoot webbing and insert 2 or so pins through all material. I used a butter knife's flat face to push the pins all the way flush insto the midsole.
I started with the arch, then pinned on the outside edge. For my wife's shoes, I needed to put in about one more pin on each side between the midpoint and te toe to ensure that rig doesn't get lifted of the side of the shoe by snow.
The Pearl Izumi Barriers have a velcro closure on the heel allowing you to access the shoe and finish affixing the rig to your warm feet. It's easy to pul the pins shown with a breadknife and switch to another pair of shoes.

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