So I branched out and went for a pair of Merrell walking/hiking shoes as my next pair because Amazon kept insisting that it didn't have my usual New Balance shoes in stock, and I tried looking up several New Balance models before giving up and looking at other brands.
The shoes felt great the moment I slipped them onto my feet, and I barely had to adjust the laces, which were already in place when I pulled the shoes out of the box (although I may have to tighten up the right-hand shoe's laces a wee bit). The problem came when I started walking on the hard floor of my apartment: the shoes' soles were stiff as hell, almost as if these were boots instead of shoes. As a result, my feet didn't roll smoothly as I paced across my floor, and that felt a little awkward.
I reasoned, though, that things would likely smooth out once I got outside and started walking. For the most part, this turned out to be true. My walk, done in a constant rain, totaled 160 minutes (close to 13K), and by the end, I had pretty much gotten used to the shoes' feel. The soles were a bit slippery as they made contact with the occasionally painted surface of the walking/biking path (some parts of the path are painted dark green; when everything's dry, there no slippage, but in the rain, anything goes), but aside from that, and a tiny bit of tightness in the area of my right pinky toe, everything went swimmingly.
Overall, I'm pleased with this purchase. I won't be wearing the shoes too often before this year's big walk because I don't want to wear them down before their time. After the walk, though, I'll wear them every day, and I'll get rid of my current New Balances, which have developed holes on their tops thanks to gentle friction from my upward-curling toes.
I go through a lot of shoes.
Glad they worked out, at least so far. I've had bad luck with online shoe purchases here--the sizing is frequently off and I've gotten knockoffs and fake brands. Luckily, there is a Merrell store at the local mall. Of course, finding a size 11 in stock is always a challenge. I guess us foreigners are bigger in more ways than one! I wear out the bottoms of my shoes before the tops and given your distance walking I expect that will be the case with you as well.
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