The $95 Inov-8 shoes weigh around 12 ounces apiece for my size 13 feet, which is extra light. Other trail shoes weigh five to seven ounces more. Multiply that extra mass moved with each stride by the thousands of steps you take in a six-hour event, and you’re talking significant extra energy expenditure with heavier shoes.
Another Inov-8 product I employed, the Race Pro 12 Pack, is a small running-oriented backpack. It fits close and stays tight on the back as you stride along.
The pack weighs about 15 ounces when empty. Inov-8 sells a horizontal hydration bladder system to accompany the Race Pro 12. But I often employ my trusted Camelbak 100-ounce Omega Reservoir, which has served for almost three years without a flaw.
The $80 Race Pro 12 Pack has only one large compartment (with about 12 liters of capacity) and a stretchy mesh pocket on back. But generous zipper pouch pockets on the hip belt allow you to stash away a half-day’s worth of energy bars and gels. On the rogaine, the pack let me keep caloric necessities always within reach as I plodded ahead unstopping for hours in the race.
—Stephen Regenold writes about outdoors gear at www.gearjunkie.com.
