A challenge I’ve run into with my gender expression has been finding fun shoes for running. A lot of men’s shoes either come in plain neutral or what might be considered typical men’s colors (navy, dark green, etc.). Wearing a men’s size 11.5 medium is roughly equal to a women’s 13 wide, which eliminates most women’s shoes as an alternative. When I review shoes, I will focus on ones that allow me to have more fun with my expression, since you can find more technical shoe reviews from all the major magazines.
This leads me to my first review, the Merrell Nova 2 (here’s a link to REI’s listing, which has the rainbow color scheme I have). I’ve ran a couple half marathons in this shoe and I’ve really enjoyed them so far. Below are some details on the specifics.
Usage Style
I like to use different shoes for different runs, so I’ll start with how I’m using a given pair of shoes. I am using the Merrell Nova 2s for my general all purpose trail runs (I also have some minimalist shoes for gentle trails and waterproof shoes for comparison). They are lighter weight with less cushion, so the feel does remind me of some of the lighter trail shoes I’ve used before.
Colors
Since it was an important reason for why I wanted to do these reviews, I’ll start with the colors available. I know it’s not normally an important aspect of a shoe, but it has been something I’ve been looking for in picking out my new shoes now. In this case, I got to pick myself a fun pair of rainbow shoes! The other standard colors are kind of boring I will admit, but there is some additional fun selection in the “See America” special editions.
Cushioning
The Merrell Nova 2s don’t sit as high as some of the other super cushioned shoes, but still offer plenty in order to provide comfort on longer runs. As much as I love running in more minimal shoes, I start getting ankle pain when I run longer distances in them. These definitely have the cushion through half marathons without any problems and I wouldn’t be concerned about running longer distances in them.
Ruggedness
The Nova 2s have a rock plate, which provides good protection for most rocks on the trail. Hitting some sharp rocks hard in the mid to back foot still hurt some on my second half marathon, but it wasn’t very noticeable and didn’t cause any problems. Basically, these should work well for most trails, but might not be the best if you are running anywhere supper rocky (where you might want to be using a more specialized shoe anyways).
I haven’t put in so many miles that I can speak to the long term durability, but after 30ish miles I don’t see any signs of premature wear out issues. The tread is holding up well, no signs of any parts of the tread tearing off.
For the grip, I haven’t had any issues with slipping and sliding during my runs. I haven’t had any wet runs in them yet, so I can’t speak to the how well they perform on wet trails, but I haven’t had any experiences that would give me a concern.
Summary
In summary, these are definitely some fun trail running shoes. They’ve provide great comfort while remaining lightweight and pretty durable. The variety of colors also makes them another way I can express myself while running. I recommend these to anyone looking for light and colorful trail running shoes.