Help with choosing shoes please

not to add confusion to your choice, but I also considered the N2 and after I tried them on I preferred the inov8 trailroc 245, you could get the 255 for a bit more cushioning maybe.

"Yeah, I know, but it just doesn't seem like an easy thing. How can you know if a shoe is right by just trying it on and walking around on flat floors? Without a ton of experience buying and wearing trail runners (yet)…"

That might be your answer. Gaining experience buying shoes. Trial and error. Biggest problem is most people buy shoes that are too small. Next problem is people don't get their feet into hiking shape. You need to hike often. When not hiking, I am frequently walking around town in flip flops or barefooted. On camping trips with my wife we do a lot of day hikes and I usually hike in flip flops. My wife complains my feet are like leather and she is always wanting to apply lotion and attack them with all kinds of grooming tools. I don't let her… It is best not try and pamper your feet. The only problems I have are occasional impact injuries or blisters because I was too lazy to remove sand from inside my shoes during a hike.

Each person's feet are different. You need to get to "know" your feet. For me, I can wear just about any kind of shoe without difficulties. So I don't give shoes much thought.

Listen to Nick.

Cheers

If your feet feel beat up, I'd look for more stiffness in the soles, not cushioning. I assess that by taking a display shoe, gripping the toe end in one hand and the heel in my other and trying to twist it 90 degrees.

A good low-cut hiker only goes 45 degrees or so. Some non-trail running shoes, I can twist 180 degrees. Those flexible shoes cause my feet to wrap around rock and roots on the trail and, over 15 miles a day, leave my feet feeling beat up.

Yeah, unfortunately there really isn't a good way to find shoes that work for you that isn't time consuming and expensive.

I literally destroy my feet – and even when I was running 70 miles/week they were destroyed and very painful. I tried stiff shoes, minimal shoes, pronation control (I don't pronate at all, by the way), cushioned running shoes…shoes too big, shoes too small, tight shoes, loose shoes….lacing changes…..

Shoes that I think are PERFECT on trips of <100 miles end up literally trashing my feet if the trip is longer than that. (yes NB Leadvilles, I'm talking about YOU)

I went ahead and bought some Altra Olympus (embarrassingly high cushion) for my CT and now I'm going to try that route. But I've been struggling with footwear for more than 20 years since I started running marathons and I just can't see how you can find shoes without trial and error.

(side note – I am leaving THREE different shoes with my brother, so that he can send me a different pair somewhere along the trail if these olympus don't work out. How's THAT for trial and error??!!)

Personally I'd rather have my feet tired from the rocks than roll an ankle from too much cushion or have my feet sore from a very stiff shoe. I try to find a happy medium between support, cushion and proprioception. For me that ends on the thinner lower side than most, but I don't have experience with long through hikes, and stiff or rocker shoes can give me plantar fasciitis since they prevent my natural foot motion.

My wife uses the Peaks, rock protection is good without complety removing feeling. She seems to have good balance in them, they're still lower on the stack height spectrum than most boots, on par with Brooks Cascadias but a lower heel drop and wider toe box.

There's a lot of good advise in this thread. I tried many shoes in store and on the trail over time. I've run long distances +40 miles with weight wearing boots (in the army) and grew up hiking and running. Hiking I transitioned from boots to mid boots to trail runners. Never looked back and only wear low boots in winter.

I discovered the top issues for me to avoid were:

1) Toe box too small – wearing shoes with too small a toe box caused a running injury (nerve inflammation) that lasted about a year. Now, if it doesn't have a roomy toe box, forget it. And for some reason, some of the shoes that members post here and refer to as having a roomy toe box, looks nearly sharp as an arrow up front to me.

2) No rock plate. Rock plate really helps shield your feet from bruising.

3) Not enough cushioning – you can go low drop (0-6 or 8mm) without giving up cushioning and without having a really high unstable stack height.

4) High drop – I switched to low drop 4mm shoes years ago and have never looked back. They feel great. Now I can even feel an 8mm heel and anything over that would feel very strange.

5) High arch – I want a neutral sole that won't force my foot into any shape.

One of my favorite shoes now is the Saucony Xodus. Because Saucony is owned by a mother brand (I forget which) which has other trail shoes, it doesn't spend on marketing the Xodus, but it's a fantastic shoe. Roomy toe box, great cushioning, durable breathable upper, very stable vibram sole with grippy lugs, neutral sole, rock plate. Wife loves it too.

Xodus 5 on sale now; Xodus 6 coming out in next few weeks. Main difference is that the toe bumper will be more durable on the 6.

Everyone is different, but recommend trying it. I have size 11 (say 11.25) feet and wear a 12. 5 to give myself room for foot swelling. My wife is a size 7 foot and wears an 8.5.

One tool I recommend you use is Shoefitr.

It's available on Running Warehouse, Saucony and other sites.

One you know a shoe that fits you well, you can enter that shoe in Shoefitr when comparing with a shoe you're considering, and it will tell you whether the shoe you are considering has a narrower/wider toe box, narrower/wider midfoot fit, narrower/wider heel and whether the sole is the same shape and arch the same height. Shoefitr will also tell you whether you should go up or down a size in the shoe you're considering.

Using Shoefitr for example, you can see the Pearl Izumi EM Trail N2 is very similar to the Saucony Xodus 5 in almost every dimension.

Thanks for the feedback guys.

I admit my feet are "soft" and could use conditioning, but I don't make many opportunities for that. I live in Houston, and "walking around town" isn't something we do here ;)

Interesting thing about shoefitr – for the Pearl Izumi Trail N2, it recommended a size 10 in red and 9.5 in blue. I ordered the 10, and it did feel a little too big, but I hoped it was the right amount of "too big". Out of the several pairs of shoes that I had ordered, I took these on a 3-day trip to the Pecos Wilderness the past few days. Indeed, they were a little too big even at the end of the day. It wasn't a problem until we were doing some sidehill walking and my feet were sliding in the shoe. I could not tighten them enough to control this, but maybe a different lacing technique would help. I could change to the 9.5, but I had ordered some other Pearl Izumi models in 9.5 and they all seemed too constricting in the toe box. The trails were rocky, and my feet did feel it, but the N2s seem to provide just enough extra protection vs. my older Peak IIs, but without losing much of the ground feel.

BTW, I saw the video on pronation at runningwarehouse.com, and did the "wet foot on paper" test, which suggested I have moderate pronation. (Yes, I already know the opinions on pronation control here.) I ordered the M2, which is the N2 for moderate pronation, but the N2s just felt more natural.

I don't know what I'll do now. I'll experiment with the size 10 N2s to see if I can stabilize my foot in them, and maybe try 9.5s. I may also try the Sauconys; thanks for the suggestion.

merrell ascend trail runners are amazing, amazing fit, traction, rock plate, and breathability. I bought a bunch on sale.

> Indeed, they were a little too big even at the end of the day. It wasn't a problem
> until we were doing some sidehill walking and my feet were sliding in the shoe.
There is a cure.
Amazon, Darn Tough Vermont thick wool boot socks.
I won't buy anything else.

Cheers

"Amazon, Darn Tough Vermont thick wool boot socks.
I won't buy anything else."

Roger, so those aren't hot and sweaty and take forever to dry out?

Stephen Darn Tough Socks are very durable and comfortable, I wear them myself – I like the Micro Crew Light Cushion for 3 season:
http://darntough.com/men/mens-hike-trek/light-hiker-micro-crew-light-cushion

The heaviest I'd go is the Micro Crew Cushion, which is the next step up in cushion and thickness underfoot.

Any more thickness than that isn't for me – too hot for summer, thicker material can bunch up and of course thicker socks take longer to dry. But try them yourself and see what works for you.

If the shoe fits well, proper lacing at the midfoot should stop you from sliding around. If the shoe is too loose, you might want to consider a different size or a different shoe.

Shoefitr is just a tool to help you find a fit that's close to what has worked for you before and it works well across brands and models. Also saves time and $ by saving you from ordering sizes that definitely won't work.