Trail runners for wide feet with high arches

Brooks Cascadia on sale at zappos.com.

OR the New Balance Leadville as this brand carries the widest sizes around.

I have really stiff feet with high arches and I really, really like the new Leadville 100s from New balance. These are my first NB shoe and I'm impressed. My feet are narrow, but with NB you can order lots of widths.

Jen don't you mean the Leadville 1210 ?

Ha!! Yes, thanks!!!!
That's what I get when I type and watch Downton Abbey at the same time…..

The newbalance 1210 has apparently been discontinued…Get them now if you can still find your size. The other day, I tried to order 4 pairs in my size and could only find 2.

Apparently, Scarpa has a reputation for making wider shoes. I have wide feet and high arches (so much that some shoes I can't even put on! no issues with pain or anything though). I now both road run and hike in Scarpa Spark trail runners.

I took Sparks through West Coast trail, 80 miles in Wind Rivers and a few shorter hikes.

I like Sparks better than my previous Brooks Adrenalines for running (which is on pavement). Very good traction on sandstone and rock. Very good traction on icy and snowy roads.

Durability is not stellar: mesh gets torn on rocky terrain, but nothing to be done there.

http://www.backcountry.com/scarpa-spark-shoe-mens

(now, seeing a discount I might get another pair!)

Not so. They were just out of stock for a while. I have been told (by NB) that they will be current for 2014. Check in the Reduced price section – lots there now.

Cheers

> Scarpa has a reputation for making wider shoes.
Not as far as I know. Only about D last time I checked. Have they changed?

Cheers

Adam,

I have been using the NB Leadville ones for about six months. They come in widths up to 4E (which I use), but in addition they are (or perhaps were is more accurate since they are cancelled) tilted towards extra room, even more than a "standard" shoe of a given with would have. I have wide feet as well as beefy custom insoles, and these are the first shoes in forever where I was able size back from 10.5 to 10. A good thing because based on length I'm really more like 9 – 9.5. They may be a bit thin in the forefoot for some but if these don't fit your wide feet you are even more of a mutant that I am. They might work for you if you can grab a pair. But yeah, you can be sure once you find something that work it will be discontinued.

You could try carbon fiber inserts for pure stiffness. They are like thin flexible plate that go under your insoles. Pricey, but can be moved from shoe to shoe. They work very well.

http://www.rtpfast.com/

New Balance I've found has the best selection of trail runners with EE and 4E, though you can get whiplash trying to keep up with the changes. I got these as a possible alternative to the Leadville ones.

The Cascadias were still too narrow. I bought the NB1210's. I couldn't find them anywhere in stores including the local New Balance store, so I just bought them online. The width is good in the toe box at the wide, but I now have a new problem. I injured my plantar fascia about 8 years ago while running but have managed to minimize the symptoms. I hiked the entire JMT with minimal problems. However, after wearing these shoes for just a walk around the neighborhood, it is back with a vengeance. I tried replacing the stock insoles with both Sole insoles and Superfeet, both brand new, and they did nothing if not make it worse. If I take off the shoes and walk around barefoot, sweet relief. It's clearly the shoes. I have no idea what they're doing.

+1 on New Balance. They have 2E and 4E widths available, and I have high arches and their shoes fit me fine, although I prefer to replace the standard insole with a Superfeet replacement insole. I get them in 4E because I have bunions and it keeps me from getting blisters. I just use the MT610BY, I find them to be comfortable and inexpensive.

Adam, the good news is that you don't seem to have reinjured your plantar fascia, nor is it (thankfully!) "back with a vengeance." What is most likely happening is that there is what we call "posting" somewhere in that shoe that just so happens to hit the area of degeneration of your plantar fascia. Posting is added firm material in various places in the sole of the shoe to provide some isolated support. Many "minimal" shoes try to keep this to a "minimum" by using a very small bit right on the inside of your heel (that way no massive arch support, just a nice way to keep your heel from rolling inward and thus overpronating). Of course, most people with older or chronic plantar fasciitis have irritating right at that exact spot…..

I have a pair of Montrails that I just love to run trails in..,but if I even so much as walk around a grocery store in them my feet are literally excruciating. They are great with the pounding of running, but just nice easy walking causes too much pressure from the shoe up into my feet.

Keep trying the new balances tho…just go for a different last on your next pair (check out "joes new balance outlet," they list the lasts available and are a great shopping tool.

Good luck!

>> I have very wide feet with high arches, which led to chronic plantar fasciitis for years. I don't have any problems if I hike in a very stiff soled shoe like a boot with a high arch support

I changed from boots to trail runners because of a hike I went on in the Smokey Mountains. It rained on me for 3 days non-stop. My feet, socks, and boots would not dry out. I got immersion foot despite GoreTex boots and waterproof gaiters. It was excruciatingly painful with every stop. I don't want to let rain stop me from backpacking. I'd like to thru hike the PCT one day, and I hear trail runners are the way to go to avoid this. Also, on the JMT I developed loss of sensation on my big toe, which I read also is worse with boots.

I dramatically reduced the pain in my arch when I inserted a piece of rubber wedge into the arches. A PT recommended I use this arch support when I initially hurt my foot, but I haven't needed it for years. It raised the arches substantially. I'm a bit disappointed in the 1210s since I was hoping for an easy transition to trail running shoes. I think I may try Altra shoes next since they seem to be a bit more minimalist. I can walk barefoot or in soccer cleats for miles with no problem. It's something about more supportive shoes that make my feet hurt.

> I got immersion foot despite GoreTex boots
No, the opposite is more likely to be true. You got foot problems because of the GTX lining. You cannot stop your shoes from filling up with water in bad weather. If nothing else, the water will run down through your trousers into your socks and into your shoes. Then you are walking in buckets of water.

With mesh joggers, sure your feet get wet, but then the water is squeezed straight back out again. Not only do you pump all the water out very quickly, but you get to wash your feet automatically as well. (Stops them stinking.) This is a very well-known fact – well known at BPL anyhow. Can't speak for the great unwashed.

Still got doubts? Try river walking for a few days. Yeah – I mean walking down a river IN the river. Sometimes the river is so much easier than the jungle on the banks!

> I don't want to let rain stop me from backpacking.
Why should it? Just go with the flow like all the other experienced walkers here.

All the other problems, I'll let Jen M comment on.

Cheers

Adam

If you don't manage to transition to trail runners, try Meindl Perfekt Goretex boots next time. They are extraordinarily comfortable and will keep your feet dry unless you are walking down jungle streams like Roger.
If you don't already know this, be sure to shingle your rain pants over your gaiters. If water is trickling down your leg and onto your socks you will get soaked. Besides carrying extra dry socks, I sometimes carry 4 sheets of newspaper to stuff in my boots overnite to suck out some moisture (sweat). I can usually dry the paper out over the course of the day and reuse every night.

As for New Balance, I too have wide feet and have been buying NB for over thirty years. I currently use the NB889MO, but a couple of years ago I had a different model that I had to give away cause they hurt every time I went for a walk. Try a different model with a different last and you may achieve Nirvana. Good luck.

Wide forefoot and high arches are my specs exactly. Try on a pair of the Keen trail shoes. Made that switch a couple of years ago after stumbling onto a pair of Keen street shoes that were perfect for me so decided to try their trail shoes. Same fit and not likely I will wear anything but Keen on the trail now.

"Try river walking for a few days. Yeah – I mean walking down a river IN the river."

Wait a second. In Australia don't you have those freshies in the rivers?

–B.G.–

"Meindl Perfekt Goretex"
Do the Perfekt's have GTX ? Since when?

Hi Bob

> In Australia don't you have those freshies in the rivers?
Yeah, but they are a protected native species so we have to leave them alone.
:-)

Reality: Australia is pretty well the size of Northern America. You don't find the Florida alligators in the Great Lakes. The Oz freshies are up North, thousands of km away from us.

Cheers

Woubeir from Europe

In North America the Perfekt's have been available with Goretex for years. Cabelas sells several different versions.

http://www.cabelas.com/product/Cabelas-Perfekt-Light-Hikers-by-Meindl-reg/1221423.uts

"The Oz freshies are up North, thousands of km away from us."

I hear that they can move pretty fast, though.

–B.G.–

Interesting. In Europe you would get an ultraheavy, leather walking boot (http://www.meindl.de/english/modelle/schuh_detail2.asp?ID=64). And there's even the heavier Superperfect (http://www.meindl.de/english/modelle/schuh_detail2.asp?ID=65).

Sorry Roger but…

North America is almost three times the size of Australia.
Canada is the 2nd largest country in the world, the US is the fourth largest and Australia is the sixth largest. Throw in Mexico and North Americal has over 22 million sq. kilometres vs just under 8 million for Australia. You do however have the largest country wholly in the southern hemisphere. (or down under)

Cheers
Ross