I’m a gear junkie. That’s the only way to explain the pile of camping gear that takes up most of my walk in closet. I’ve reviewed camping gear in the past, but never running gear – the beauty of running was the need for relatively little gear (especially for 5Ks.)
My recent decision to start looking at Marathons and potentially Ultras along with my desire to go to more minimalist / barefoot running has (perhaps ironically) gotten me looking at new running gear. I went out and got a pair of Vibram 5 fingers but returned them before running in them after discovering that wearing them around the house caused my toes to start to go numb because my feet just don’t fit the 5 finger mold. Looking at other minimalist options lead me to Barefoot Jason’s review of the Merrell Trail Gloves released in Feburary (http://barefootrunninguniversity.com/2011/01/04/merrell-trail-glove-review/ It should also be noted that Jason is working with Merrell on their barefoot resources – check out Merrell’s site.)
Excited about these shoes I ordered a pair as soon as they were available and received them yesterday. Obviously it will take me some time to put on enough miles to truly review these shoes, but I thought I’d post the sizing portion of the review early since that seems to be a big question for those looking at these shoes.
Sizing
When I went to order these shoes online, sizing was my big question. I searched the web and wasn't able to find a reliable sizing guide and opinions on if they ran true to size were mixed.
I have always run in Asics. My most recent pair of shoes, the GT-2150's are size 10 to provide enough room for my feet to swell when running long. The pair before that, Gel-Kahana 2's, were size 9 ½ and my racing flats, Hyperspeed 2's, are also size 9 ½, though they are pretty snug - the way I like my 5k racing flats. I have been hearing that the Trail Gloves run a bit big so I ended up ordering a 9 ½.
The 9 ½ seem to be the perfect size for my feet. My toes are close to the ends of the shoes, but not touching - a size smaller and they would be. The toe box is huge, and made it feel like the shoe was too big even though the length of the shoe was perfect. The shoe can be tightened nicely with the lacing system and despite the sensation that they were too big, they didn't slide at all on my feet. The feeling that they were too big was just because I'm not used to having that much freedom and toe splay, and would probably feel right to true barefooters.
I have always run in Asics. My most recent pair of shoes, the GT-2150's are size 10 to provide enough room for my feet to swell when running long. The pair before that, Gel-Kahana 2's, were size 9 ½ and my racing flats, Hyperspeed 2's, are also size 9 ½, though they are pretty snug - the way I like my 5k racing flats. I have been hearing that the Trail Gloves run a bit big so I ended up ordering a 9 ½.
The 9 ½ seem to be the perfect size for my feet. My toes are close to the ends of the shoes, but not touching - a size smaller and they would be. The toe box is huge, and made it feel like the shoe was too big even though the length of the shoe was perfect. The shoe can be tightened nicely with the lacing system and despite the sensation that they were too big, they didn't slide at all on my feet. The feeling that they were too big was just because I'm not used to having that much freedom and toe splay, and would probably feel right to true barefooters.
I won’t go into my running experience in the shoes any more than to say after my first 8 miler in them my feet felt good save a small blister on the very end of my left middle toe – something that points to a flaw in my form more than to any flaw in the shoe.
EDIT: Full Review Now Posted: http://runnerreborn.blogspot.com/2011/04/merrell-trail-glove-review.html
EDIT: Full Review Now Posted: http://runnerreborn.blogspot.com/2011/04/merrell-trail-glove-review.html
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