There’s nothing fairly like a run in nature: bushes round you, a recent breeze within the air, grime at your toes, and possibly even a stream burbling within the distance. However moving into path operating can really feel intimidating—particularly should you don’t have the fitting gear to get began.
Enter: The Lululemon Blissfeel Path, the model’s first off-road shoe that was designed to assist ease runners onto these peaceable paths. As a part of SELF’s 2023 Sneaker Awards, I examined out a pair to see simply how effectively it handles trickier terrain.
Who it’s for
The Blissfeel Path is an on a regular basis path operating shoe, or extra precisely, a “highway to path” sneaker, as the corporate describes it. That implies that it’s rugged sufficient to guard your toes on uneven floor, however not so cumbersome that it might probably’t go on the pavement, too. To me, the shoe is for runners who wish to give trails a strive, however most likely aren’t going to leap into actually intense ones proper off the bat.
Out of the field
The “highway to path” facet was robust when unboxing these: Other than the lugged outsole on the underside (which helps present traction) and little extra hardiness alongside the higher, the sneakers look loads like an everyday operating shoe—there’s no excessive ankle help or laceless fastening that you simply see with some trail-specific fashions. I’ve tried path sneakers with each these options previously, they usually convey kind of an…intense really feel to them that I feel may be a little bit off-putting to these dipping their toes into a brand new sort of run.
Match and Really feel
Like all Lululemon sneakers, the Blissfeel Path was designed particularly for a girl’s foot, and which may be why I used to be capable of put on my regular avenue shoe dimension as an alternative of going up a half dimension, like I usually do with trainers.
Once I tried these on, the shoe actually hugged the curves of my foot, giving it extra of a streamlined look than I anticipated with a path shoe. My foot felt cradled and supported, and though I wouldn’t name it cushiony, it undoubtedly felt comfy. To me, it was a welcome aid from some path sneakers, which might simply really feel like loads as quickly as you slip them on.