Over the last year or so I’ve transitioned off the road and I am no doing most of my running on the fields, footpaths and bridleways near where we live. At the tail end of last winter I was often struggling for grip on the muddy trails so started looking at replacing my road running shoes with some trail shoes.

I’m not a natural runner. Despite having completed a couple of marathons (slowly) I tend to pick up a lot of injuries when running. My normal pattern is to start running regularly, get competitive with myself and up either the mileage or speed too soon and pick up an injury after a few months. Then I don’t run for 6 months before i begin the cycle again.

In the past gait analysis has shown that I over pronate so I’ve tended to end up buying expensive running shoes with lots of cushioning and arch support, supplemented with orthotics for extra support.

Having read the excellent book Born to Run I started to think more about my persistent running injuries and whether the expensive, highly supportive running shoes I have been using all these years were helping at all. I thought maybe I should try and use an all purpose running shoe with less support…

The above thinking lead me to buying a pair of Adidas Galaxy Trail Running Shoes. They were cheap (£25 in a sale), looked pretty inoffensive and reasonably light.

The thing I like about these shoes compared to my usual road running shoes is you feel more in contact with the ground. I assume due to the thinner sole I can feel every little undulation in the ground. When I’m running off road this seems to give me more confidence that I am less likely to turn an ankle. I feel more in tune with the uneven surfaces I am running on.

The lower levels of support/cushioning also makes these running shoes seem lighter than my previous road shoes. Psychologically these makes me feel like I can run faster and I am lighter on my feet. They feel nice to run in.

Not only are the Galaxy’s good to run in but the styling is pretty inoffensive too. This means I can wear them when on holiday when out an about and sill have some running shoes with me when I want to nip out for an evening run.

Due to the reduced amount of support these shoes offer I’ve taken my time building up the mileage I run in them. The theory being it will give my muscles and tendons time to adapt to them and avoid injuries. So far so good. I’ve been wearing them for a few months now and I’ve yet to suffer any injuries.

All in all these shoes cost less than 1/4 of the cost of my road running shoes. The quality seems great and there are no signs of wear yet. They fee great to run in and look nice. I’ll certainly be buying them again next time i need some new runners.