Today was likely my penultimate run of 2024. If the weather forecast holds up, and I stay healthy, I’m planning my final run for the morning of New Year’s Eve. The weather today was not fantastic — low 40s, gray, and wet. It has been drizzling off-and-on for the entire day, but there was a nice, mostly rain-free window from 9am to 11am or so, and I was able to get a 9-mile run in. I hadn’t really planned on any particular distance, so I just picked a route I hadn’t run in a while, and didn’t even bother checking mileage until I was almost finished. I’m pretty sure this was my fourth, and longest, run in Xero Mesa Trail Waterproof shoes. This time around, I wore them with Feelgrounds toe socks, Correct Toes, and wool hiking socks. This worked out great- the two layers of socks took up most of the volume inside the shoe, so my feet didn’t slide around. They also stayed dry and warm, and didn’t sweat, and the toe socks prevented any rubbing/blister issues. This was the best my feet have felt after running in the Xeros, and while the sock combo undoubtedly helped, I suspect that the shoes have also “broken in” a little bit.
The Feelgrounds socks are the first toe socks I’ve owned that are not made by Injinji (I love Injinji socks, but a little healthy competition is a good thing). These are ankle-high, and very thin. They’re maybe a tiny bit thicker than my Injinji liner socks, but not by much. They are 39% cotton and 61% Coolmax (synthetic blend). I found them to be quite comfortable inside the larger wool hiking socks. They’d probably also work well with climbing shoes, and possibly my Vibram V-Runs in warmer weather. For the time being, though, I’ll continue to use them with the Xeros with wet weather, and see how that works out over several runs.