Buy New Balance Men's M1010 Minimus Running Shoe

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Great shoe, but after wearing them twice the bottom grip is already peeling off. Poor quality. I will be sending them back, hopefully.

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I'm a huge fan of the New Balance MT1010 (trail) version of this shoe, but the "lily pad" tread makes the MT1010 not so great on hard (road) surfaces. That's why I was so excited to buy this shoe (the New Balance M1010) they finally came out with my favorite shoe in a *road* version.

As for my review, let me state that I agree with all the other reviews before mine. I'll just re-iterate a few points:

Nice amount of cushioning (not too much, not too little). Very light weight. Barely qualifies as "minimus".

The tread is still just a bit bumpy for roads. I would have appreciated a smoother tread.

The fit is tighter that I expected, but probably spot-on. I normally wear wide (4E width) shoes but found that the MT1010 (trail) shoes fit me perfectly in normal width. This wasn't the case here with the M1010 (road). I need to go back to the wide width due to the extra padding. Instead of buying new shoes, I just wear them without socks and they fit and feel great. Very soft inside. No blisters or anything.

General warning to those unfamiliar with the "minimus" or "low drop" shoes: these shoes will teach/cause/help you to run similar to how you would run barefooted, landing on your forefoot more rather than your heels. In my opinion, this is great and how humans are intended to run. If you're not used to it, however, it does put more stain on your calf muscles and lower leg tendons so you need to build up your strength before running too hard. The benefit is that it reduces stress on other parts of your body (back, knees, hips) since you're not landing hard on your heels.

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For the record, I am a fitness runner, running in the Pose method, I don't race, but I love to run. Having burned through 3 pair of NB Minimus shoes already and finding myself running on more pavement than trail lately and unfortunately, I thought I'd try a more built-up pair. I wore out 2 pairs of MO10's and 1 pair of MO20's, so I decided to try these M1010's. I wasn't quite used to the drop, even at 4mm, coming from the shoes I had worn before, but considering the conditions that I am running on now: gravely streets, concrete, paved trails, all cooked to 80-100F degrees, the slight midsole came as a welcome addition. Very light, and they still feel good and solid on the ground like a Minimus shoe should. Very little break-in required. I hope they continue to feel this way as I run in them throughout Summer.

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These like most of the rest of NB's minimalist shoes run a touch narrower than their standard shoe. I think that's in part because they don't have a removable footbed, so forget any orthotics here.

That said, the shoe is solid. I have the old 610s and 630s both a step up from the Minimus's and both had more 'shoe' to them. The 610 had more structure, but less padding. The 630 was roomier and had more padding. The M1010 is right in the middle. Enough shoe so running on concrete feels like running dirt, but no hard footbed to shape your foot.

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I'm usually a 8.5 2E, and that's the size I purchased. Like another reviewer, I previously had the MT1010 in the same size and they fit great. These road shoes, however, are just too narrow. The toe box is only slightly wider than normal width, and it's the arch area that is very narrow. If you have wide feet with flat arches, avoid these shoes. Wish these shoes fit, because they look great and seem to be well built. I'll probably give the M3090 a try

That being said, it should be no big surprise that different shoes, even between models by the same manufacturer, can vary in sizes. Buying shoes online is always a risky proposition, and ratings for shoes should not be low simply because they don't fit. If you want to ensure a perfect fit, don't buy shoes online unless you have tried them on in person first.