Just before Christmas Sportsshoes.com offered to send me a pair of running shoes to review. I asked for a pair of the Brooks Adrenaline GTS 14s as I’ve been wanting to try them forever and haven’t really enjoyed the New Balance 860s I was wearing this year.

As luck would have it I had also just ordered a pair of trail shoes from Sportsshoes.com the day before, so it was a great day when the postroom delivered 2 pairs of shoes to my desk.

I brought both pairs to Vancouver with me for the holidays to put through the ringer.

Brooks Adrenaline GTS

I’ve done about 10 runs in these shoes. They’re quickly becoming my all around favourite supportive shoe. I can see a lot of half marathons and marathons in their future.  Most recently they came on a wet Seawall run with me and even though I couldn’t get the shoes in the selfie, they were there I promise.

As far as specs go, I truly believe everyone should go to a speciality running store to get a proper shoe fit and see all the options available. What I do like about these is they are a great fit for my narrow feet and I haven’t noticed any rubbing at all.  They were great on the hardpack trails near my parents house, and I was “almost” able to keep up with our speedy dog Nixon

I took them for a run along the beach path and did about a mile actually on the hardpack sand with them and they were a delight to run in. See below for #shoefie proof.  I personally love the bright pink option, the last pair of shoes I was in love with were a bright pink pair of New Balances so I’m hoping for the same colour luck.

New Balance Leadville Trail Shoes

A bit of a 2-for-1 review, I thought I’d put my opinions about these shoes on the blog seeing as I ordered them at the same time. I’m in love. I’m not sure if it’s 100% due to the shoe, or where I get to go in them, but these trainers are going to take me to new heights I’m sure.

I wore them while hiking up the BCMC trail on Grouse Mountain with Alex and could not believe how grippy and stable they were on the wet/snow trail. The BCMC is right beside the Grouse Grind and open all year round (while the Grind closes due to liability). The BCMC isn’t as built up as the Grind either so there are more roots, and wet slopes.  I didn’t take one wrong step the whole way up and felt confident on sections of the trail like below with slick roots.

They were also really stable on the uneven ground and even though I’m not quite used to these types of trails (London? Not quite the same terrain) my ankles were fine the next day.

It goes without saying the blue is amazing too. My favourite part of these is that they are snug around my narrow foot, but the toe box is HUGE so you have a bit of freedom to move your toes around (and accomodate swelling on those longer trail runs I’m assuming)

Shoes are great, but you can have too many, so with these new pairs arriving Alex and I have set aside a few of our older, gently loved, pairs to donate to In Her Shoes in the New Year.

Thanks to Sportsshoes.com for sending me the Brooks Adrenelaine GTS14 pair of shoes to review.