New Balance MT20 Shoe Review

I recently ordered 3 pairs of shoes:  Trekstas, Mountain masochists, and NB minimus MT20s, which were the first to arrive, so I didn't wait to try them out and took them out for a spin today. I figured that since I've been running in light shoes fairly often: Nike skylons, Saucony Kinvaras, and Saucony Peregrines, I would be able to adjust fairly easily to the New Balance MT20s, which was true.

The MT20s felt great, though my right knee felt a little weird at first. After I got warmed up and got more feel for the shoes, my knee was fine, and my form was starting to adjust. You definitely want to land mostly forefoot when running in shoes like this with no cushion, and it helped that I'd run in the Saucony peregrines enough times; the MT20s are just less shoe and more responsive.

Running 67 minutes in them the first time out probably wasn't necessary, especially when I decided the fit was perfect without socks, and I've always worn socks. But a couple of tiny blisters later, my feet and legs held up fine.

The MT20s have a 0.4 mm drop from heel to forefoot, which is why these are cheaper now: Everyone is drawn to minimalist shoes that are completely flat now. The newer MT00 has zero drop, but cost 109 instead of 70. But the .04 drop is fine for me because I run in other shoes with the same or a little more drop. I don't see myself entirely switching to something like the MT20s or MT00s anytime soon, but it was really fun running in them, and the feel is fantastic. The grip is really pretty good on rocks, maybe a little better than the mountain masochists, but not nearly as good as my Trekstas or my old la Sportivas were. You can feel every rock in the trail, but there's enough protection (if you place your feet precisely) to run on very rocky stuff, which I did today.

From rec.running: A good article about minimalist running

(Oh that's my current favorite after run snack: 3oz rice chips).