Women's New Balance Fresh Foam 980 Trail

I loved the fit, comfort, safety, cushioning from the first mile on. They make you trust them easily and wow, they zoom! I didn't notice that they are a tiny bit heavier than my Nike Wildhorse 1 but just as comfortable. On my first run the front rubber came off. I loved them and didn't want to return them, besides, I thought it wasn't too bad so I just bought special glue and glued them together. Problem solved (ha, for 100 miles)
Yesterday, at their 110th mile of trail running the mesh on the sides torn And it wasn't even a tough trail, some rocks, sticks and ash, lots of ash. Now I have super comfy shoes I mega love but they have holes on the sides. :'(
I don't think they deserve a bad review, just an improvement right there on their next generation. A trail shoe should hold more than 110 miles... right?

I used these shoes for walking with my dogs along trails. I don't walk fast but I like the light weight and good traction trail running shoes provide. These shoes are comfortable with good cushioning--and I loved them even though my feet were brown with dirt when I took them off. However, they only lasted about 275 miles before the uppers got holes in them where my pinky toes are, making them unwearable/painful. The shoes were not tight on my feet and have a decent size toebox. But the material in the uppers is very thin and not reinforced. I have been wearing trail running shoes for over 10 years and have never worn through the uppers before, and I have narrow feet.

looooooove these shoes! i'm at the age where i really need cushion on longer runs, which i do on the trail. these shoes feel great!

Having been loyal to Brooks Cascadia for years and pretty satisfied, I was looking for more cushioning as I am a hard fore-foot striker - especially hard being a small person (5'3', 112#'s). Also, I wanted a smaller drop after researching the advantages. The problem is, zero or near zero drop shoes are typically minimalist which I did not want - so finding a zero drop with significant cushioning was almost impossible. Then came Fresh Foam Trail! Yippee! Without even trying, minutes were shaved off my time and my legs no longer ache after long runs. I run 80% hilly trails - some very technical - and at Colorado altitude.

The only things I would change is the sizing - runs VERY narrow and short, would like the tread to be more aggressive for trails, and just a touch more foam would be nice!