Shoes Shoes Shoes

Once again I have the inevitable shoe dilemma in front of me, and although things are easier this year than last year’s “great shoe debate” I still have to make a choice. Last year I decided to go minimalist, I read Born to Run and after some further research decided the barefoot movement was where I needed to head if I was going to be the runner I wanted to be. Of course there are a million minimalist/barefoot shoes on the market now, being the fad, and last year after trying out what seemed like all the options I settled on the New Balance Minimus(NB MT10). This shoe is amazing! In almost every aspect…. Where this shoe failed was its protection on rocky trails. At first these shoes felt like they had plenty of underfoot/midsole protection, but I was comparing them to the Vibram Five Finger’s, that I had been running in, which really get you closer to the barefoot goal with almost no protection. After almost a year of running in the MT10’s they have worn down and I am plagued with sore feet after long trail runs on Northern Colorado’s rocky trails. I do still love the shoes for the road, but they are no longer worth much to me on the trail, making me carefully pick my line instead of just running.

I have always been a huge fan of New Balance, and really was satisfied with the MT10’s, so this year my search was quickly narrowed down to 2012 NB lineup. I considered other brands, but after perusing I decided to just stick with what works and NB shoes always have for me. This year there are four NB minimalist trail shoes that interested me, and I’ll talk about each one a little and you can makeup your mind about which one is right for you. The NB Minimus (MT20), The NB Minimus Trail Zero (MT00), the NB Minimus Amp (MT1010), and the NB MT110 (no fancy name apparently and not truly a minimalist shoe, but close). All four look like great shoes but I need to narrow it down so here are my thoughts….

I started at the Minimus(MT20), this is just the 2012 version of the Minimus, and other than a slight update on its appearance it’s basically the same beast as last years MT10’s, 4mm heel drop and all. It’s the first out the window for me, being the same as what I have I feel there is just not enough forefoot protection. Don’t get me wrong, this is a great shoe and has performed amazingly, it’s holding up after hundreds of miles of running and I love the feel of them, they are just better suited for the super buffed out trails that don’t exist here, so…. The MT20’s come in at $99.99 and are available now I believe. Oh quick note too, I don’t care about the weight of any of these shoes, some reviewers post about that, they are all light in my book, and that satisfies me on that topic.

The Minimus Trail Zero(MT00) interested me next, NB finally decided to make a true flat shoe. Cutting the last 4mm and putting this shoe into the category along with the Vibram’s and a few others that can boast a zero drop shoe. NB did beef up the midsole on the MT00 to add a little protection from the sharp rocks, but it seems minimal and without some real testing out on the trail I don’t really know how much better the sole is. So although interesting with zero drop, slightly more protection, and an even more minimalist upper, I am going to throw these out the window too. However I would like to try them before I am sure.

Also NB is making a Minimus Road Zero(MR00), their road version of the MT00, a zero drop road runner that has all my attention, and the shoe that will be my road runner of choice this year for sure, but that’s an aside, this post is about trail shoes. Both the MT00 and the MR00 are going to come in around $100.00-110.00 and will be available in February.

The last Minimus is the Amp (MT1010). This to me is what the Minimus trail shoe should be. The Amp is a 4mm drop shoe, so not flat like the MT00, but the same as the MT10’s I currently wear and this years MT20’s. The Amp has more rubber at the midsole and slightly more support in the upper than the other Minimus shoes, and the big addition of the added protection of NB’s RockStop, a thin piece of hard foam in the soul that acts like a rock plate helping to avoid the pain of those pesky little rocks all over the trails. The RockStop is what is selling me on the MT1010’s, it’s what the MT10’s or any minimalist trail shoe needs I believe. Having to consciously pick every step out there takes too much concentration for me when I’d rather just be enjoying on the view! The shoes look amazing too, like the concept car of trail shoes, and I dig the bright colors NB picked for them! They have a nice mesh upper, no gusseted tongue, and are still designed for sockless wear if that’s your thing, which it is for me, so these may be the ones! They will retail at $110.00 but unfortunately won’t be available until July.

Lastly are the MT110’s, this years improved version of the super popular MT101’s, and MT100’s from years past. Everywhere I went last year runners had the 101’s on, they seemed to be the shoe of choice for ultra and trail runner alike. I tried and liked last years MT101’s, they were comfortable, had lots of protection, could be worn without socks, and were the cheapest in the NB lineup, but with an 10mm heel drop I decided I didn’t want to go back that high up since I was already running on Vibram’s at the time. The heel drop was the main reason that I settled on the MT10’s last year, feeling like the MT101’s were just not minimalist enough for me, which they were not designed to be so it’s understandable. They were great half-way shoes, good for transitioning runners with the goal of flatter shoes; they were not trying to be minimalist shoes by any means. This year however NB took a new look at this shoe and finally made the change needed to hold my interest. They lowered the heel drop to 4mm, putting it in the running with the Minimus lineup, changed the upper a bit to deal with some chafing issues the older versions had, and picked out some new funky colors. The MT110’s have a RockStop plate in them as well, like the Amp's, and may be the future for near-minimalist or closer to zero heel drop trail shoes. The one concern I do have is although the heel drop is only 4mm, the shoes still have a stack height of 19mm at the heel and 15mm at the toe, compared to the Amp’s 14mm and 10mm, or 9 and 5mm of the MT10’s. Last year the 101’s felt tipsy to me with the propensity of possibly turning an ankle, compared to the lower shoes I was used to running in at the time. I talked with other runners wearing the 101’s and they felt the same way for the most part. This is where the 110’s do stray away from the minimalist category; there is a lot of rubber down there. Also the tongue is gusseted, not a big issue, but I really like the wrap feel of the Minimus tongues, less seams for rubbing. Anyway the MT110’s will come in at $85.00 and will be available in January. The 110's will most likely be the shoe of choice for me, until July when I can get my hands on a pair of the Amp’s!

It’s always a hard choice when picking a new running shoe, so if anyone out there is looking at the NB line up, hopefully this helped a bit. Thanks for reading and good luck with your choices, I know there are tons out there to pick from!