>>2473113>Hitting your feet against a rock in wet but warm conditions suck but it's fine, doing the same with cold fit would be far more susceptible of injury.The one in the pic was a bad example, but trailrunners come in a variety of uppers. Most of them have pretty deep toe caps so smashing your foot is not really any more of a concern than with a boot. Stuff falling from above on your foot (caves etc) is unavoidable though, they always have mesh on the top.
Trailrunners are also significantly more puncture resistance than boots. For this reason I consider trailrunners to be more protective than boots, because the most common way you're going to fuck your foot up is stepping on something and puncturing the shoe. In tests, puncture resistant hiking boots typically handle like 18-22lbs of force from a deck nail, and trailrunners take several thousand pounds to penetrate because they put thick carbon fiber plates in the midsoles of them.
picrel an example of a trailrunner with more of a toecap to it. same one i daily drive, but in a different color.
