I spent a long time searching for the best shoe to wear for Tough Mudder. If you are not familiar with the Tough Mudder, it is a 10-12 mile military style obstacle course. Mud, water, ice, electricity. Fun, right?! You can check out the madness at the Tough Mudder site. 

I wanted something that would drain well since I would be diving into ice cold water. Something with some tread to grip the mud and slippery slopes. Check out the Everest obstacle, a 15 foot half-pipe you have to run up. Most of all, shoes that could be comfortable wet and muddy for 10 miles.

What sold me on the Drainmakers was the drainage system they employ. If you poured a gallon of water in the shoe, it drains straight down through the sole and out some ports on the sides. It also has some tread with laser cut grooves that are supposed to grip wet and slippery surfaces. Kind of like a lizard’s feet.

They lived up to the billing. Traction was never an issue. The true test came on Everest. I had told my friend Mark about them and he had picked up a pair as well. Out of our group of Mudders, only mark and I made it up Everest. Coincidence?

I found the shoes on clearance at the Columbia outlet store for $45.

Some specs:

• Open cell sandwich mesh upper with translucent TPU toe cap
• Micro suede eyestay and Techlite heel
• Techlite midsole with drainage ports in heel and forefoot
• Fully drainable footbed
• Siped, lugged outsole for extra traction made with Omni-Grip wet grip rubber