Bill, Using all my reserve to not make any trumpet comments.
Moving on, indeed a modest amount of running in the program is totally fine and can substitute for any of the aerobic hiking days. As your hiking goals approach of course the training should be a specific as possible but if 1-2 days a week are more running oriented then should be fine. We also have many athletes do their Zone 2 work in “running mode” where by they use a running gait for flats and downhills and a power hiking gait for the ups. This mixed with weighted pack work on other days works well.