Outdoor Gear Reviews | ub Outdoors

April 20, 2011 in Featured, Fitness & Nutrition by Carl H. Martens

A little over a month ago, a friend from college posted on Facebook a video link, “Flea from Red Hot Chili Peppers really enjoys Chi Running“.  Being a fan of RHCP, I decided to check out the link and watch the video.  This led me to prompt a conversation with Shelly about minimalist running shoes and seek out some advice from her.  She is the Marketing and Social Media Manager at ChiLiving, Inc.  I’ve been an avid runner for years as a way to stay in shape, but as I age I’m finding it harder to keep unwanted weight off.  Prior to her post I had been looking into stepping it up a bit this year with my running regime.  As the weather started to warm up, I turned my focus to finding a replacement to my virtually indestructible Solomon XA Pro 3D XCR Trail Running Shoe.  I wanted to try a pair of minimalist shoes.

Shelly and I exchanged a few comments and messages back and forth on Facebook.  She was quite the resource for my new endeavor and got me pointed in the right direction.  After much research, I decided to purchase the New Balance MT10 Minimus Trail minimalist running shoe from the New Balance website.  Why pick the New Balance MT10 Minimus Trail?  The shoe was designed with input from Anton Krupicka and on the New Balance website there is a pretty awesome video of him running the type of trails I run here in Georgia.  Not one to get fooled by media propaganda, I did more research than let that determine my expenditure, but nonetheless…it is a really cool video, so cool I posted it below.

OK…who am I kidding…I pretty much let this video sell me on the product.  I’d like to think it didn’t, but it did.  Other things I considered were the look, design, and weight.  Although the bright orange color (now also available in grey/yellow) was a bit flashy for me, I really liked the appearance.  The material reminded me of the “oh so comfortable” shoulder and hip straps on my Osprey hiking packs…the though of having this material encompassing my feet had me feeling pretty optimistic about these shoes.

Upon receipt, I was very satisfied with my purchase.  The shoes were everything I had expected.  The sole is relatively thin and flexible, yet still rugged consisting of several circular interconnected knobs.  The toe box was wider than most, enough that you notice this at first glance.  There is no insole hinting that the Minimus Trail is to be worn without socks.  I hate socks.  I wear sandals year round and if and when I wear shoes, I prefer to without socks.  I digress.

The initial fit (barefoot of course) was odd feeling.  The back of the shoe was snug to my heel, top around the laces was tight, and the toe box was wide.   There is a noticeable raise in the heel which I learned is 4mm of heel lift vs a zero-dropped heel most minimalist shoes feature.  The shoe does not sit flat, there is the raise in the heel and in the front, there is an upward curve of the toes…toe spring.

The shoes arrived early afternoon, so after work I went over to Big Creek just down the road from my house.  I had tied them too tight to accommodate my foot which led to discomfort.  It is easy to lace the shoes too tight.  If you lace them too tight you’ll notice pain in the top of your foot, loosen the laces.  Once dialed in, the Minimus Trail fit extremely well and felt great when in use…they were quite pleasing.  Overall, I was amazed by their light weight (7.1 oz) and how they seemed to allow for natural foot movement within the shoe while allowing you to feel the terrain, yet protect at the same time.  My first experience running in a minimalist shoe brought a smile to my face!

I’ve read some complaints about the shoe not being zero-dropped, but perhaps this is the ideal shoe for those of you like me making the switch and entering into a minimalist style running shoe.  At this point, I can’t really speak to that point because I have not tried a zero-dropped heel, but the 4mm raised heel didn’t seem to bother me…if anything I would think it makes the switch a little less drastic.  It is rumored that the second generation of this shoe will be zero-dropped which should make the purist minimalist quite happy because this is truly an awesome shoe!