When I wore them on a 21 mile practice run, it was like going out in my slippers - I could feel every bit of road. The F-Lite sole is incredibly flexible, to the point where it felt like they would bend any direction my foot wanted to go. Admittedly, the Road-X has had a bit more wear and is losing bits of fluff out of the heel padding, and the F-Lite is now holding a little bit of dirt in its tread, but the difference is a bit of a surprise, given Inov-8s numbering system. The F-Lite 230s are, strangely, heavier than the Road-X 233s which are half a size larger (249g size 9 vs 240g size 9.5). I only had two concerns before they arrived - the outsole and the upper.Ĭomfy, close fit across the toes - no problems with the fit! So, I checked with SouthLakesGuy on Twitter (he knows a bit about Inov-8s), and he confirmed they are great all-rounders. Oddly, though, they aren't listed among the Inov-8 road shoe range.
![inov8 road x lite inov8 road x lite](https://www.inov-8.com/media/catalog/product/cache/bd1b8cad7c61ae1ddc34981e467e2b22/0/0/000867-nybkgu-s-01-f-lite-235-v3-m-navy-black-gum-1.jpg)
The 230s are listed on Inov-8's website as a fitness shoe that's also designed for hard-pack trails and tarmac. After all, I'd run almost all of my long runs during the year in trail shoes, so why not? That brings me to the F-Lite(tm) 230s. What to do?Īfter searching for a low profile shoe with a bit of grip in a brand I could slip straight into, I opted to run my annual road marathon in trail shoes. They would be great for 24.5 miles of the race, but the 1.5 miles where I intended to recover nearly all of the time I would lose on the final climb, so I needed to be certain of my footing.
![inov8 road x lite inov8 road x lite](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/c2/eb/7f/c2eb7f2130670e6c25ca8baaddbcd787.jpg)
![inov8 road x lite inov8 road x lite](https://media.runnerclick.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/Inov-8-RoadXTreme-250-both.jpg)
And then I looked at the course and the location again, and realised that I would never be able to blast down a wet, grassy, slippery, rainy trail in a shoe with virtually no traction on wet grass.
#INOV8 ROAD X LITE FULL#
With a spring full of trail racing, the 233s lasted longer than expected, with only around 400 miles on them as summer came to an end. A few weeks later, I bought a pair of Inov-8 Road-X(tm) 233s, with the intention of easing down another 3mm of heel drop in my road shoes. On January 1st, 2012, I entered the Snowdonia Marathon.