Have never been a marathoner and never will be.  I ordered these shoes to wear during several obstacle races that I have coming up.  I had seen several runners using vibram five fingers and wanted to try those.  Tried those on and couldn't get my fat toes in the slots.  Tried these on at the running store and fell in love.

I was wanting some shoes that I could wear without socks, would dry easily and quickly, wouldn't take on much mud or water through the course of the race, and were reliable and reuseable.  I found all of those things in these trail gloves.  Not to mention, the color is freaking wicked.  I love bright colored shoes!

I use them to workout in for preparation for my races and they are great.  They have very breathable uppers and the vibram soles are very grippy and afford great traction for cutting and turning type movements.  They are so light.  If I didn't feel them on my feet, I wouldn't know they were there!

If your feet are not accustomed to using a minimalist shoe, I wouldn't recommend just picking these (or any minimalist) shoe and start training as you always do.  You have to build your foot tolerance up in these shoes and if you don't "forefoot run", you will simply tear up your feet and may end up with a stress fracture in your feet or really tearing up your calves.

Great shoes and can't wait to see how far these take me.