Shoe Review: New Balance MT110

These are minimalist trail racing shoes with design help from some of the top trail runners, and it shows! These shoes feel like slightly stiffer road racing flats, and they run really well on technical rocky trails. They have just enough cushioning to handle the bumps, a good-enough rock plate, and very good lateral stability with their lower ride.

If you like running in racing flats but you run trails, these are definitely worth a try! I had no problem at all adjusting to their ride and running 37 minutes in them on the first run. For now these are shorter and intermediate distance shoes, but I can see how running in them a while, I might be able to handle longer stuff in them. I have a whole bunch of other shoes, which I will still use, but these are closer to perfect: the lightest possible with very few drawbacks. They also handled running boulders in the creek (boulder hopping) really well, and my feet never felt stressed with sharp rocks or ankle torque.

*Update (9/1/12):  My first pair of MT110 lasted From April to August, running more and more in them. I'd estimate I ended up doing about 1/3 of my runs in them over that span of about 5 months. The upper in the front of the right shoe ended up tearing halfway across on a sharp rock. I may try to sew them for a few more runs, or just trash them. I love these shoes more now, even though durability could be better, my first pair lasted pretty well. These are my favorite shoes now: the best trail shoes I've ever worn by far. They could have better rock protection, and the uppers could be more durable, but overall a fantastic shoe. New Balance will come out with a second version of these shoes soon, and I look forward to trying them.