1,200+ Mile Review / Update: New Balance MT 101 & MT 110

I fancy myself as a barefoot runner but I do a lot of running in shoes.  I run in shoes when out on the trail, when it is cold, when it is hot, and sometimes when it is dark.  The New Balance MT 101 were my first pair of proper trail shoes and about a year later I picked up the MT 110.  I haven't bought any new shoes since then.  I haven't closely tracked the miles but both pairs are safely past 1,200 miles.  The MT 101s have held up better than the 110s but the 110s work better with my foot shape.

I didn't run in the 101s for about 6 months and they sat in a basket on our front porch.  Then one day it was too hot to run BF and my 110s were caked in mud in the back of my car.  I tossed on the 101s, after emptying out the dirt my son had filled them with,  and realized they worked pretty well for short fast runs.  I then used the 101s for shorter runs and the 110s for longer runs.

I'll have to try and salvage my 110s this week since the hole in the picture below is getting to be a bit of a nuisance.  I figure that I'll run them through the was and then try to super glue the flap back to the sole and have my wife stitch the upper mesh back together. 

A few more pictures of wear and tear.

My biggest complaint about the 101s, outside of being too narrow in the toe box, would be the separating lining on the inside of the heel.

What a great song: