Over lockdown I really picked up my running, and after some very cold toes in 2019, I decided to get proper winter running shoes and not do the “extra socks” thing with my regular kicks. So I got the awesome Ghost 12 GTX (1200 km and they look new!). I put that shoe through 800km as the only show in ’20. In ’21 I added the Peregrine 11 GTX adding 400km to the Ghost and almost 500km to the Peregrine. A solid shoe but like my other lockdown production window shoes they got beat up randomly and developed a wear point in the heal. A couple days ago the ’22 snows rolled in and the Peregrines gave me a blister on my heal. I’m pretty sure that would not have happened if I had worn different socks. This did however motivate me to get another pair of winter shoes. I was going to ride the 11’s out for a while, but that was going to be more pain than I was willing to deal with.
Hopping on to the Running Room site, I took a look at the GTX shoes available and as my inbox got notifications for the new NB GTX shoe and the new Peregrine Ice+3 I had choices. Heading out to my local store I tried on a couple and all the GTX had the regular stiff feeling in the upper. I put on the Ice and wow, it felt like a regular shoe. Sure it’s pricey and the ice tread might be gimmicky especially with the first version at least not having great reviews. I figured that I’ve run on enough ice that I know that if I want to “hit and stick” I would need spikes.Without spikes (like winter tires) it’s something more akin to “hit and resist”. With both hard and soft lugs on the new shoe I figured that it would work well on the mix of terrain that is winter running in Edmonton.
So this morning I rolled out and the shoes worked just as expected. “Hit and resist” was just what I got. I can’t really compare it to the 11 GTX right now with respect to feel; the last run on those was in the middle of the snow arriving with fresh snow, wind and ice. What I can say is that with the two runs being very similar in distance, the pace came out about the same. So I would say that based on this the Ice are not better or worse for performance. They are however far more comfortable and with more flexibility in the upper, I feel they will be much better in the -20 and colder runs. My only issue? My old socks gave me a matching blister. Ah!
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