Trail runners for human feet? Bonus: Crudely drawn MS-paint foot illustration.

So when you buy a shoe of proper length for your foot, it feels like you're swimming in it? Perhaps you need a narrow width shoe?

If your foot looks like that I'll buy you a beer….

My foot looks like this –

The line is through my big toe. Trace your foot and I'll bet it is similar.

So if your big toe is hitting the end of the shoe, guess what? The shoe is to short or to the toe box is to narrow.

Edit: or the toe box is to shallow.

Try the Mix Masters….I just bought them as my new trail shoe after taking trail gloves to the sawtooths last summer on a hike…after a while my feet were dying from the trail gloves not having a rock plate.

The mix masters are 4mm drop and have a rock plate.

Google "last shaped like a human foot" and you will find liks like this one :
http://runblogger.com/2011/03/altra-instinct-running-shoe-review-zero.html
Recently I spotted in a local shop another brand that does shoes like that but can't remember what it was.

^^^

Hoka?

But it has a narrower toe box than the Altras

I think you might find Treksta shoes worth checking out. Look at the section of their website that describes the Nest Fit last. It shows a diagram that looks just like your drawing. My feet are shaped the same way, so I know your frustration! I haven't yet needed to buy new hiking shoes but will probably try them when I do.

From looking at that drawing, it looks at least plausible that your feet are the same shape as mine. (Well, at least as far as I can tell from a drawing. )I've been using a pair of La Sportiva Wildcats for the last year, and will be moving on to the Ultra Raptors for this year. (Wildcats are great, but I'm in PA and badly want more rock protection.

I've found that these two shoes (especially the Wildcats) fit nice and snug around the ankle, but widen nicely towards the front of the foot to give a lot of room without swimming around in them. (if you go Ultra Raptors, go up a full size. Trust me.)

This being shoes, YMMV (literally), but if there's a store nearby that stocks them (or go nuts on Zappos), it's probably worth giving them a whirl.

.

Kyle,
Here is a guy with a foot that “looks” similar to your drawing, and his solution –

FellRNR (a great site on ultra running)

And if this Is how it feels to you, then a wider toe box is the solution.

I am checking out these Treksta shoes and I'm hoping that this is the light at the end of my oddly shaped tunnel. I guess I have never paid much attention to others feet and always assumed that mine were like everyone else's. Can't wait to get these shoes in the mail and tell you how they work out.

I have similar issues. My high arch kind of forces my big toe inward, running it into the sidewall much like your illustration. I've had the best luck with Vasque boots/shoes that are built on the Arc Tempo last. See here for a description of the lasts Vasque uses:

http://www.vasque.com/vasque-boot-technology#

They don't make many of their shoes on that last. I think the Breeze is the only high-top, and there are (currently) one mid- and one low-top (Taku, Juxt). They recently quit making the Scree (formerly Catalyst), which was my favorite mid-top.

Good luck; we're apparently an oddity not worth the mfrs' attention.

Been looking for a similar shoe, Altra is the only brand I've been able to find, the Inov-8 Trailrocs are close. Went through pretty much all of RunningWarehouse's trail running shoes using the shoefitr. Currently my Inov-8 Roclite 295s have been okay after sizing up, but they're starting to bite the dust so I have a pair of Altra Olympus on the way. The 2nd gen 295s have a more narrow last and after a couple trips with a lot of rocky trails, I wanted more cushion.

Here's a Hoka Stinson Evo compared to a Altra Lone Peak 1.5 (Picture from freakrunner).

I've always wondered why shoes are rarely shaped like the things we put in them. Just another one of those things I may never understand about this world.

You might have a look at these Patagonia shoes as well. Scroll down to More Product Views. http://m.patagonia.com/us/product/mens-evermore-shoe?p=79000-0

+1 on what Todd shared about this Arc Tempo last!

Similar foot shape here, plus high arch and wide forefoot/narrow heel.
Vasque did me well.
Another benefit is, they do not offer much of an arch support to mess things up.

Trailrocs.

New Balance MT110 are longest at the big toe, you can pick them up cheap too.

Dave

Image courtesy of Irunfar.com

The best foot shaped shoes are the Five Fingers. I walk in them, hike in them, ran half marathons in them, and an training for a full marathon in them.

They're the only shoe that really allows my toes to be in a natural position. My big toe does not bend inward, and my feet look like your red toe drawing.

I wear Spyridons when I'm backpacking, Komodo/SeeYa for daily/walking, and SeeYa for running.

If you do go the FiveFinger route, you really do have to ease yourself into it.

Feet like Greg's (unnatural) became shaped that way due to years of conforming to non-anatomical modern shoes, much the way a woman's feet will look all weird from years of wearing high heels.

Natural feet look like the red drawing. Just Google "Natural Foot Shape."
Until I switched to Five Fingers a few years ago, I just wore my shoes a half size up or try to find wide shoes, so luckily my foot shape stayed pretty natural. This combined with my flat feet makes it really hard to find comfortable, non-Five Finger shoes. Sometimes I just gotta suck it up and wear normal shoes like dress shoes for fancy events.

They don't make a formal Five Finger as far as I know.

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My foot looks like this:

I don't think his drawing was that far off from a human foot.

My foot traced with socks on:

what the eff?

man the doc said he though my big toe was broken it was so bent (outward toward my pinky)

you've got unique feet my friend.

ever try a running store that specializes in foot fit? i'm you're around the metro Detroit area theres a place in northville by the REI store.

My sister is a pediatrist. maybe she can help you out.

Wow!

Kyle, what kind of beer do you drink?

When I found FellRNR’s photo’s I realized just how different feet can be.

Thanks for posting yours.

I think anyone’s recommendation for a shoe should be accompanied by an outline of a their foot.

Magic words for you will be “curved last”, to get more length/width over that big toe.

Edit:
Here is the AltraLonePeak, Photoshopped off of FreakRunner’s Site –

beer for me too?

Very insightful.

Overlay of Kyle's schematic and tracing –

More feet…more feet…