New Balance MT110 Boot Winter Shoe Review

About a year ago, when reading Anton Krupicka's blog I noticed he was wearing some funky blue shoes.  Thinking that they were the next version of the MT110 I zoomed into the picture and noticed that it appeared to just be a booty of some sort.  We now know that it was both. It was a MT110 with a built in booty for winter conditions.  New Balance recently introduced that shoe, the 110 Boot, also known as the MT110WR. 

Same tread as MT110

Recently New Balance was kind enough to send me a pair to test and write about.  (Disclosure:  These shoes were a media sample provided free of charge).  Since todays weather was so incredibly miserable I figured it would be the perfect time to give them a proper test.

A real "Pain in the Ass"

End result of No Shave November

Long time readers of my blog will recall that I used to write about other subjects than just shoes.  While I love sharing my passion for shoes I have missed sharing more personal stories.  Other than my shoe reviews, my highest viewed stories have been about health and diet.  In the last view months I have been through a couple of medical scares that I have wanted to write about, but thought the subject matter might be to personal.  After much thought and discussion with Amy I have decided to write about it.  After all, it was just Mens Health November month and my story relates.  This topic is not easy for a lot of people to talk about, but embarrassment is no reason to neglect your health.

NOT what pee is supposed to look like..

On Sept. 29th, in the middle of a beautiful sunny trail run and only 5 miles in, I stopped to pee.  Even thought I had new sunglasses on, my pee looked strangely dark.  I lifted my glasses and saw that it wasn't dark, it was bright red.  Like watered down cranberry juice.  I was totally confused.  I am pretty aware of what the different colors of urine indicate, especially in terms of dehydration.  Thats just the type of stuff you know when you are an ultrarunner.  It is an excellent visual guide of your level of hydration and possible issues with your kidneys.  I also know several different reasons that you might have blood in your urine.  But having so much blood after only running a short distance scared me.  I slowed my pace down and took the quickest route home.

Top 5 Trail Running Shoes of 2012

As the year draws to a close and the promise of new and improved trail shoes hangs in the air, I decided that it would be appropriate to make a list of my top 5 Trail Running shoes of the year.  This year the traffic on my blog has increased drastically, and my most read posts are related to shoe reviews.  As a result of that, I have had an increase in manufactures sending me shoes to test and review and/or evaluate.

I only have one absolute rule for what goes on my feet.  The difference between the heel and forefoot cannot exceed 5mm.  My sweet spot for a long distance running shoe is a lightweight upper combined with enough cushioning to run for hours upon hours at a time.  I have sorted my list based on the number of miles I have put on that model this year.  As of this writing I have run 3048 miles.  Over 1500 of those miles were run in these 5 shoes.  With that, I give you my top 5, in descending order. 

Salomon S-Lab Sense

#5 Salomon S-Lab Sense. (56.2 miles)
Pros - Light weight, snug fit, great rock protection, bad ass looking
Cons - Traction could be better, $200 MSRP, reported short life

I love the way these shoes feel.  I have run few miles in them because I'm trying to "save" them for just the right race and training situations.  You can read my review of them here.