New Balance Fresh Foam Zante Upper New Balance 360 cheap sale and Fit Compared to the 980, the both the upper and fit of the Zante are much improved. The front half of the upper is composed of a stretchy mesh that feels quite soft and stretchy. This allows for a much greater degree of toe wiggle than in the toe squishing toebox of the 980. It also feels as if there might be a tad more room up front, and the fit is near perfect on my average width foot (I did go a half size up as I did in the 980).
Altra has stirred up a bit of controversy in recent months with a move toward more cushioning in their footwear. They beefed up and softened the Instinct in version 2.0 (have not run in them, but saw a pair last week and they are very soft), they introduced the maximally cushioned Altra Olympus trail shoe, and are soon to release the maximal Altra Paradigm road shoe. Shoes like the ultraminimal Samson and Adam are no longer in production. In perhaps the biggest change, the Altra The One has been totally redesigned from a low-profile, racing flat-style shoe to a Saucony Virrata/Kinvara-style lightweight trainer.
Altra The One2 Paint Flake Conclusion Some are going to hate what Altra has done to The One, but I for one reall New Balance 1574 usa sale y like the One2. It¡¯s the first Altra shoe that I¡¯d truly consider for a marathon distance race, and it combines softness and flexibility in a way that I have yet to see in any other Altra (I haven¡¯t yet tried the Instinct 2.0).
Conclusion
New Balance Minimus Trail Shoe Appearance and Construction First things first, the Minimus Trail is a very good looking shoe. I¡¯m a big fan of shoes that make a bold statement with their appearance, and the orange and black shoe that New Balance sent me certainly does that. The upper of the Minimus Trail is composed mostly of two kinds of mesh, both of which can be clearly distinguished in the images included with this post. The mesh on the toebox and tongue is a bit more padded than the rest, and is softer to the touch. It also absorbed water like a sponge when running through puddles, which felt a bit unusual, though not uncomfortable. The remaining mesh is more open, and the upper as a whole is thinner and a lot less structured than that of the Minimus Road. Of the shoes that I have in my collection, the most similar to the Minimus Trail in terms of upper structure and feel would be the Mizuno Wave Universe, the original Nike Free 3.0, and the Vibram Fivefingers ¨C together, these shoes probably come closest to my ideal in terms of upper design.
CIMG1918My second run in the Minimus Trail was a mixed bag of almost everything I could throw at it in five miles. It had been raining hard earlier in the day so I opted to go sockless and I ran the first 3 miles over wet leaves, wet sand, rocky trail, grass, mud, pine needle beds, and through some deep puddles (see left). The shoes performed great on all surfaces except down a steep hill on wet leaves (not sure any shoe could handle that well). The outsole provided protection from roots, sticks and rocks, though the occasional small rock would hit in a spot where it could be felt (simila New Balance 373 shoes sale r to the Trek Sport, though maybe a bit more protection). I was particularly impressed with how the Minimus Trail performed when wet. After skirting around a few of the bigger puddles, I opted to start going straight through them just to see how they would handle when wet. The shoe soaked water in quickly, but because of the mesh most of the water drained out just as fast (except for the spongy tongue and forefoot covering) ¨C going sockless in these conditions was a big help. More importantly, the soake New Balance 410 shoes sale d shoes did not cause a single blister or hot spot.
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