Review: Altra Intuition running shoe

OK, I promised to post a review of these shoes after I had a few miles in them, but I'm not really sure what to say. :o

The central selling point of Altra's entire line is zero heel-to-toe drop. The Intuition (and its men's counterpart the Instinct) is not a minimalist shoe. The sole is maybe 12mm deep, IMO a necessity for people like me who run on crushed-stone roads. They come with two sets of insoles, "support" with a bit of a heel cup and medial arch, and "strengthen" that are perfectly flat. Altra says they can be worn without the footbeds too, for a more minimalist experience.

The shoes are foot-shaped both inside and out, which ought to be a no-brainer, but is really hard to find. The outsoles have ridges along the lines of each metatarsal and round landing pads where most people's metatarsal heads would be. None of the pointy toes, weird bends in the middle of the foot, or clown feet that are common to so many running shoes.

I really, really love the zero drop. As someone who's been practicing Chi Running and a midfoot strike ever since I started "really" running, it's wonderful not to have to choose between running on my tippytoes vs. inadvertently smacking my heels. The farthest I've run in the Intuitions so far is about six miles, but I haven't had any trouble at all transitioning from the high heeled Nikes.

They have just enough cushion that I can run on my usual routes without bruising my feet, and enough flexibility that they've got great road feel. They're very lightweight, probably comparable to a racing flat, and they felt great when I did my first race in them last week, a four-miler.

The bad news, for me, is that they're just too narrow. They don't come in widths yet, although I've been nagging Altra to bring out Wides. :p I tried on the men's Instinct, which are slightly wider in the forefoot but still too narrow for me, but the positioning of the overlay on the men's shoes really irritated the 5th MTP joint on my left foot, where I'm trying hard not to get a tailor's bunion. I went ahead and bought the Intuitions knowing the width might be an issue - just because every pair of shoes I buy is a compromise, and I wanted to try the zero drop. I'm lacing them starting with the fourth hole from the toe (an even more radical lacing pattern than they suggested), and I'm going to try taking the overlay off completely - I contacted Altra and they said it wouldn't affect the durability of the shoe - but I doubt I'll be able to make these my distance shoes. There's only so much you can do with the upper when the sole is narrower than your foot. With only about 50 miles on them, they've already started to aggravate both the big toenail and the incipient tailor's bunion on my left (larger) foot.

I might yet try these in a size 12, which just came out after my 11s shipped. One can always hope. :rolleyes:

Now, granted I just bought a pair of men's EE width New Balance shoes for the gym and they're not quite wide enough for me. So a person who has human feet instead of my duck feet would probably really love the Intuitions. I have to highly recommend these shoes ... for someone else. :(