I LOVED my merrell overdrive 2s back in the day. I've been dying to find a pair of merrells that were like them even remotely. These seemed like about the closest I could find. I used to run long miles but I'm a little overweight and need good padding. I put them on and they're just a little snug on the sides but my feet are super flat so that's kind of expected. But I only lasted about a mile running in them. Just didn't have any feeling of padding in the mid-ball strike area. And not much flex either. Just felt stiff. Even after trying to bend them around and loosen them up. Might just be a bad match for my foot but I had to return them. These may be great lightweight trail shoes but as far as running shoes they didn't work for me.