As a mad-for-walking person with mash-up feet, I thought I would write a gear review comparing two pairs of hiking boots: the Hoka Tor Ultra Hi and the Inov-8 RocFly G 390 GTX. As a reminder, I have Morton’s neuroma, osteoarthritis in the ball of my right big toe with a small bunion, and historical achilles issues. Whilst the latter has mostly cleared up since starting a ketogenic diet, I have discovered that I can still get a little stiffness after a long hike. Or at least I do with one of these pairs of boots… Right off the bat, I should say that I love Hoka shoes. I switched to them on the advice of my physiotherapist and podiatrist after wrecking my achilles wearing Vivobarefoot shoes. I have not looked back. I have Challengers for the gym and every day, and Cliftons for road running. I unreservedly recommend them. As
I’ve gone mad for walking and will need to update my bio from an obsession with microbes and fungi to one with hiking. I am starting to suspect that my carnivore experiment earlier this year slaughtered a colony of fibre loving microbes which were controlling me and making my every act be one of microbial veneration. Sorry bacteria, but at least the residual colonies are getting nice days out. Anyway, hiking. I love it, but alongside my achilles tendinopathy, I also have Morton’s neuroma which makes walking very painful after a few kilometres. Thankfully my Hoka Tor Ultra hiking boots are helping the achilles element, but they unfortunately do bugger all for the Morton’s neuroma element. The pain I get when the neuroma kicks in starts off with a kind of tingling numbness at the base of the middle three toes, and then very quickly turns into a sensation of burning