Neat! Ray Jardine advocates something similar in his book (http://www.amazon.com/Beyond-Backpacking-Jardines-Lightweight-Hiking/dp/0963235931), of which I was a big fan. (Among other things, I stopped buying hiking boots on his advice and haven't regretted it a bit.)
Cargo pockets are terribly useful things. This is my new dance-shoe bag, and the pockets quickly lent themselves to name-badges on one side (that's what those silver magnets are) and granola bars on the other. If I can find a good source of free or nearly-free belts (buck-a-pound, maybe), I'll be making more of these to sell.
btw, there's a comment below, accidentally not posted as a reply to yours, asking why you don't wear hiking boots anymore.
And, on a similar tangent, I'm curious what kind of footwear you recommend for running.
I don't know if I'd go so far as to "recommend": there is great variety in human experience, and feet have more than their fair share of it. I run in 5fingers and low-end sneakers.
If your annual sneaker budget is $120, definitely buy 4 pairs of $30 sneakers (I'd say 12 pairs of $10 sneakers, but they don't have Walmart in Boston) rather than one pair of $120 sneakers. Shoes are a solved problem, and fancy ones are way less important than fresh ones.
Running in 5fingers is a separate project from running. Get your cardiovascular system and big muscles happy with running a mile or so before you worry about it, but I did find that they helped me run faster and finished the job of curing the crippling plantar fasciitis I picked up a few years ago. (Just running at all had done most of the work by the time I got them.)
I often like the look of them, but for actual hiking, they're a nontrivial added weight and expense, they make your feet hot, and Jardin argues that their benefits aren't worth it for hikes on established trails: he prefers cheap, light sneakers, wool socks, and stepping carefully rather than relying on waterproofness and ankle support.
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branchandroot
no subject
Date: 2012-03-05 03:35 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-03-05 03:20 pm (UTC)If I can find a good source of free or nearly-free belts (buck-a-pound, maybe), I'll be making more of these to sell.
btw, there's a comment below, accidentally not posted as a reply to yours, asking why you don't wear hiking boots anymore.
And, on a similar tangent, I'm curious what kind of footwear you recommend for running.
no subject
Date: 2012-03-05 06:35 pm (UTC)If your annual sneaker budget is $120, definitely buy 4 pairs of $30 sneakers (I'd say 12 pairs of $10 sneakers, but they don't have Walmart in Boston) rather than one pair of $120 sneakers. Shoes are a solved problem, and fancy ones are way less important than fresh ones.
Running in 5fingers is a separate project from running. Get your cardiovascular system and big muscles happy with running a mile or so before you worry about it, but I did find that they helped me run faster and finished the job of curing the crippling plantar fasciitis I picked up a few years ago. (Just running at all had done most of the work by the time I got them.)
no subject
Date: 2012-03-05 03:54 am (UTC)i wear similar nearly every day
#
no subject
Date: 2012-03-05 04:20 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-03-05 06:51 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-03-05 06:53 pm (UTC)And frankly, they're much more useful now, having fewer holes.