SAFD: another one with princess feet - AND I’m a recovering ballerina, which makes me extra picky about shoe fit. I once had a shoe fitter ask me “Dancer or soccer player? I can always tell because the dancers and soccer players need their running shoes to fit perfectly: like a protective sleeve over their feet.” And yep - that totally tracks, lol! I need my shoes to fit so well that I’m totally unaware of their existence while running: no shifting, lifting, bunching, sliding, etc. And that is surprisingly difficult to find with low volume feet that are wide across the metatarsal, but narrow through the midfoot and heel/ankle. Plus I don’t like a bunch of cushion: my feet need to feel the ground or I feel unstable through the rest of my body. But also, my aging joints really do need some cushion from the concrete I mostly run.
For now, I’m wearing Altra Escalante 4s for short runs and I love them. But for longer distances, the laces dig into the top of my feet and skip-lacing makes the fit too sloppy. So I’m suffering with the Torin 8 on long runs, which is more rigid than I like and weirdly pulls my socks too tight over my toes while also allowing my feet to shift forward, making the front of the arch bite into my big toe joint. I’m just hoping Altra fixes the Torin 9 and/or the Flow 3 is better.