Brooks PureGrit

Summary

Fairly lightweight, nimble, yet padded, trail runner with minimal drop and great ground feel. This is my go-to shoes for long trail runs in most conditions.

Brooks has found the sweet spot for a shoe that is both minimal in drop and underfoot extras, yet still includes plenty of protection to keep my feet from getting wrecked on more technical trails or long distance pounding. I have a wider forefoot and these have plenty of room towards the front, though the heel could be a bit narrower for me (an issue i've had with most Brooks shoes).

I've run in most conditions from craggy, granite filled technical single-track to muddy fire roads and the only issue i've had is with the outsole lugs not having quite enough grip on wet or slick surfaces. They tended to slip a bit more than I like.

Overall I really like this shoe and it has been my go-to for this season's training and racing of 1-2 hour tempo runs to ultra distance trail races.

Summary

This shoe is light, durable, and a beast on the trails. The only downside is traction when it gets wet.

Honestly, I love my PureGrits so much my wife should be jealous. I've been running them for about 8 months now, and recommend them highly — with one caveat.

The trails I run are fairly technical — rocky, New England single track mostly — and coming from a much heavier, sturdier trail runner, I was worried that these shoes wouldn't stand up to them. But I loved my Brooks Green Silence road shoes and decided to give the PureGrits a go. I haven't regretted it. They are light, but sturdy, and the BioMoGo midsole is great. I really do feel more "in touch" with the trail. And my calves look awesome.

The only negative about this shoe is very specific — they tend to lose all traction on wet surfaces. I think this is partially due to the rubber used and partially due to the minimal tread pattern. But they can be very slippery when wet.  

I believe I read somewhere that this is going to be addressed in the next generation of the shoe. To be clear — I'm talking about surfaces like bare rock in the rain or wet logs or that kind of thing. Specifically, I would not recommend them for a Tough Mudder or similar wet race.

Anyway, if you run trails and don't spend much time running over naked granite in a rainstorm, you will love these shoes.