Alright, I’ve been AWOL a bit lately, but it’s time for my final review of my Altra Lone Peak trail running shoes.
You may recall back in April that I bought my first pair of Altra running shoes after reading a promising review in Runner’s World magazine. I’ve done subsequent reviews since then, but was waiting to give my final verdict until after the hubs and I completed the Washington DC Spartan Sprint on July 26th. So, a weekend ago, the hubs and I got in a car and drove to NOVA to meet up with a college friend, a brave client, and an awesome new fitness buddy and face the mud together. And, holy crap, it was awesome!
Me (left), the hubs (right), and our buddy Stu before the big race. Feeling optimistic and excited!
We made it through registration to the grounds, where fitness challenges, DJ’ed music, shops, food/beer vendors, and all other kinds of fair-like fun were set up. I seriously could have spent hours strolling around and geeking out over everything. Instead, we managed to find our group and get collected for the start of the race.
The start line. We were all behind that nice, big, muddy hill, so we couldn’t even get a sneak peek at the course before we began! Clever…Photo compliments of Amanda Painter.
The entire course was muddy! And the terrain was demolished from the previous heats (200 runners every 15 minutes, starting with the elite heat at 8:15am and ending sometime in the evening. We went at 10:45am.). And when I say muddy, I mean slick, sucking puddles of nutella thickness. Oh yeah. We made sure our shoes were tied on tightly (oops, hubs forgot and lost a shoe in the first quarter mile and had to go back for it!) and our gloves to protect our hands and add grip. After the first barbed wire crawl, though, it didn’t matter what precautions you took. You were coated in mud, gripping anything was impossible, and that was where they’d set up all the rope climbs and pulley hauls.
LOTS of mud! Photo compliments of Amanda Painter.
The course was a total of ~4.5 miles with 18 obstacles, and every aspect of the race was designed to completely exhaust you, challenge your mental and physical toughness, and make you feel accomplished at the end of your race.
Burpees because I couldn’t figure out how to climb a muddy rope. Photo compliments of Amanda Painter.
It never matters how quickly you finish, how many obstacles (or burpees) you end up doing, or where you are on your journey; at the end of the race, you are a champion. You are victorious. You have completed a challenge with valor (and fire pits, and barbed wire, and mud)!
Pushing my way through the Gauntlet of weighted sand bags toward the finish line. And yes, I totally Hulk-ed out. Photo compliments of Spartan Race.
When you cross that finish line, and they hand you your medal and that coveted banana (or two, because I’m greedy), you know you’ve done well. As a bonus, we also got protein shakes, tshirts, and they had granola bars for those runners who can eat that. A great stash as a race reward!
So how did Altra’s trail shoe stand up to such a formidable challenge?
The sweet relief of being done! Photo compliments of Spartan Race.
The Course
4.3 muddy miles of uneven, very hilly terrain. 18 obstacles.
The Results
Total Race Time 1:28:50
415th finisher overall out of 5357
35th female
8th in age group
The Review
I’m really impressed with Altra’s Lone Peak shoe. Throughout the race, I was definitely feeling the challenge of the event, but my knees didn’t hurt when I was running, which is a major plus for me! We definitely slogged through a great deal of mud, but the shoe design shed its mud quickly instead of holding on to the extra weight. My feet were able to feel light and nimble for the majority of the race.
Post-race shoes and muddy legs, after being hosed-down. Also, The Green Hat totally photo-bombed.
The traction on the bottom of the shoe not only leaves adorable “foot prints” in the mud as you go, but I am pleased to say I didn’t lose my footing once along this course. If the mud under me slid, I was easily able to dig in a little deeper and regain traction.
All in all, Altra gave me everything I wanted out of a shoe. My knees didn’t hurt, my shoe did not hold on to extra weight, I had grip, the shoe laces did not come untied, and the shoes cleaned up well after the race. There’s definitely some kick left in these shoes (and a bit of sand), but I know that when I go to buy another pair I’ll be getting more Altras.
Thank you, Altra!
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