Shoe Review: New Balance Minimus MT10

I bought my first pair of MT10's last spring and after running in them through the summer, fall, and winter I feel qualified to write a formal review.

These shoes are spectacular!  Finding the right pair is entirely a matter of fit, and the moment I slipped these on the shape seemed to match my feet perfectly.  They are light (only 7.5 oz), flexible, breathable, so comfortable in fact that at first I forgot I was wearing them.  Officially they are a trail shoe and as such they have decent traction, but they work just as well on the roads.

I wore them on the roads without socks for a couple of months but on my first trail run my feet got the nastiest blisters I've ever seen.  Running on even terrain the forces are almost entirely unidirectional, but on rocky, technical trails your shoe slides around a little in every direction so you need some protection.  Now I wear thin "Aspire Swiftwick" socks and I haven't had any problems.

The MT10's are fairly loose in the toe-box which apparently is part of the design; the intent is that your feet have a chance to splay out as you hit the ground.  Rather than gripping your foot from the sides they feel like they stay on from the top like a sandal.

They are comfortable through a remarkable range of temperatures: when it is hot they breath easily from a mesh upper, and when it is cold they felt pretty much the same.  This winter was monstrous in Utah, and even when I was out in 18 degree night runs my feet never felt chilly.  As the above picture indicates I wore them in an Xterra triathlon and they handled fine even when wet.  The only terrain where they struggled was on ice...but to be fair the only shoes that can really grip that have spikes.

I've logged about 300 miles so far and the sole is almost worn out so I have started looking into my next pair.  I'll take a look at some other brands just to be thorough, but running in these have been such a dream that I've all but made up my mind.  Apparently New Balance makes a black-on-black version which look totally badass...

WARNING:

These shoes have minimal cushioning, only 4mm of heel-to-toe drop, and no arch support, so they are a truly minimalist shoe.  Only buy these if you are already accustomed to landing on the forefoot or are ready to make a big life change.  I will talk more about the transition in my next post.

P.S.  This guy wears 'em too: