Roger is right on. I’d even go further on size – I don’t have wide feet, yet find I need to add 1.5 sizes to my actual foot size for trail runners used for backpacking and long day hikes in order to leave enough space between my big toe and the front of the shoe to avoid jamming my toe into the front of the shoe on descents. And that’s hiking with Darn Tough Light Cushion socks, a fairly thin sock.
Also look for a generous toe box, good durable cushioning, breathable mesh uppers (though I wish shoe manufacturers made their upper mesh finer to keep out more sand), durable outsole with good traction and a nylon rock plate for protection from bruising and some torsional rigidity which helps avoid foot fatigue.
I also prefer low drop (difference between height of heel and ball of foot) shoes in the range of 4-8mm. I haven’t tried zero drop shoes like the Altra yet. If you’re transitioning from higher drop shoes, zero drop will put more stress on your Achilles compared with 4-8mm drop shoes, so if you try Altras or other zero drop shoes you might like to increase your mileage slowly.
I used to wear Montrail Wildwoods and Salomon shoes way back when and then went with the Saucony Xodus 3.0 which I loved – meets all the criteria I mentioned above. Beat the heck out of them and wore the tread down to nothing, but it took a lot of miles to do that. Also wore the Xodus 6.0 – good quality but didn’t like the fit as much. The current model is the Saucony Xodus ISO 3 and the previous ISO 2 is on sale now. Haven’t tried either yet. The ISO 3 looks like a return to the design of the Xodus 3.0.
You might like to try the Saucony Xodus ISO and the La Sportiva Akasha. Both are high mileage, durable, well-cushioned and protective shoes. I’m going to try them on shortly at the same time to compare – and welcome any other suggestions of similar shoes to try out. I avoided some La Sportiva shoes in the past because I felt the toe boxes and midfoot were too constricting, but I’ve heard the Akasha is more generous in the toebox and forefoot and is frequently used for ultra trail races.
