![inov8 road x lite inov8 road x lite](https://www.inov-8.com/media/catalog/product/cache/bd1b8cad7c61ae1ddc34981e467e2b22/0/0/000927-blwh-p-01-f-lite-g-230-m-blue-white-1.jpg)
![inov8 road x lite inov8 road x lite](https://hips.hearstapps.com/hmg-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/images/shoe_images/inov8roadxlite155-1370461695.jpg)
The course terrain was the type that I still consider to be what these shoes are ideally suited for - dry dirt trails without an over-abundance of rocks and roots, with substantial climbing and descending.
![inov8 road x lite inov8 road x lite](https://media.runnerclick.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/Inov-8-RoadXTreme-250-both.jpg)
This is where I first fell in love with these shoes. Terrain: Dry, packed dirt mountain trails and roads typical to ColoradoĬomments: This was the first race I ran in these shoes, and in fact was only the second time I had run in the shoes at all. Xterra Beaver Creek Trail Race - July 2011 On the contrary, I have finished races wearing other shoes that I thought would perform better in the given race conditions and wished that I had chosen the F-lite 195s instead. I'll say from the outset that I have never finished a race wearing the F-lite 195s and wished that I had chosen a different shoe. In an effort to give a fair assessment of my experience with the shoes, I'd like to profile a number of the races that I've competed in while wearing these shoes, and use that basis to outline what I believe to be the highlights and limitations of the shoes. These races have ranged in variety from a cross country 5k to a road marathon, and every type of trail and mountain race imaginable within this distance range. At 195 grams (6.9 oz), it is one of the lightest running shoes on the market that is specifically built for trails, and is arguably (depending on whose measurements you trust) the lightest trail running shoe available with a foam midsole.īy my count, I've competed in 26 races while wearing the F-lite 195s. It the exact same shoe as the highly praised X-Talon 190 with the exception of the outsole - while the X-Talon 190 outsole contains deep, widely spaced lugs to handle thick mud and wet grass, the F-lite 195 has lower profile lugs that handle basically everything else. For those unfamiliar with the F-lite 195, it was originally produced as an ultralight trail running shoe with minimal features and a crossover tread that allows the shoe to perform on both trails and roads.