New Balance MT101 Giveaway

Over the past couple of weeks at Running and Rambling, some of the giveaway contests have been about appreciation, others have been about mojo, and still others have been about remarkable generosity. Today’s is all about joy.

That’s because the sponsor is New Balance, a company who was plugged into the whole “joy of minimalism” vibe long before any major shoe company, and whose marketing tends to emphasize the visceral pleasure of trail running even more than it does the actual products involved. Consider, for example, this 2-minute video that’s currently on the company’s Outdoor Ambassadors page:

“The Trail”, by New Balance (click to play):



So, OK - it sounds like Brandy Erholtz actually enjoys pain more than she enjoys joy … but you get the idea. Trail running is its own reward.

New Balance has also been a leader in developing footwear that allows you to feel the path beneath you, but still meets the highest performance standards of the best ultrarunners in the world. I wrote about their efforts (and embedded another sweet video) in this post about Anton Krupicka and the forthcoming New Balance Minimus trail shoe.

And before you ask – yes, I’m currently testing the Minimus, and yes, it’s awesome. But that’s a review for another time. Today’s giveaway features the MT101, which I called the ideal off-road race shoe in my recent Gear of the Year post. It’s an impressive upgrade to New Balance’s breakthrough MT100 shoe, which was the first trail shoe developed with extensive input from Anton Krupicka and Kyle Skaggs, and in many ways ushered in the era of minimalist performance shoes among the major manufacturers. (Check out my original review of the MT100 if you’re interested.)

New Balance MT101

The MT101 maintained everything that was great about the MT100, and incorporated extensive user feedback to improve all the quirks of fit and stability in the upper. It was a rare example of a company making all the right moves – and when I reviewed the MT101 this fall, I called it an ideal combination of lightweight minimalism and protective features to help you run like a maniac.

It’s also a perfect transitional shoe if you’re looking to move gradually towards true minimalist footwear. Consider the following exchange I had with another runner – a physical therapy student who worked at a running store – as part of a long shoe-related conversation during October’s Firetrails 50M:

Other runner: The MT101 is about as little shoe as I could tolerate wearing right now.

Me: The 101 is about as much shoe as I could tolerate.

So the shoe is a great middle ground for traditional runners looking to scale down, or minimal runners looking for extra protection. And as previously mentioned, it’s simply perfect if you just want to run like a maniac for a while.

Which brings us to today’s giveaway: THREE winners will receive a gift of holiday joy from New Balance, in the form of a free pair of MT101s, in either gender and any size. Since this is a major prize, I’m going with the link-weighted entry system for this one: You get one entry for leaving a comment below, an additional one for linking to this contest page via Facebook or Twitter (remember, I make random checks), and a third by linking here from a blog post. The contest will be open through Wednesday, December 29th at 5PM PST.

Very big thanks to New Balance for sponsoring this contest, and good luck to everybody!

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