I went with the latest version of the New Balance 880. My feet seem to like those shoes so I'm not changing! I was a bit intrigued by the Merrell Road Gloves but I'm not sure about the whole minimal thing at this point.
Dave-
If you don't mind me making a quick comment, since I run only in minimalist shoes and exclusively in Merrell shoes I'd say you probably made a wise choice to avoid the road gloves for now because you'd have to essentially start over as far as running and distance are concerned.
If you wanted to try a difference shoe that minimalist but still allows for a midfoot or even heel strike then I'd suggest the Merrell Bare Access 2...it's got a 13.5mm stack height, 8mm cushion and still zero drop,
http://www.merrell.com/US/en-US/Pro.../Mens/Barefoot-Run-Bare-Access-2?dimensions=0 but it is a good entry level mostly minimalist road shoe that won't punish your feet for heel striking. Also the Bare Access 2 are literally the road gloves with more cushioning and a slightly different upper. In fact for long distance road running it is my shoe of choice because my Merrell Trail Gloves don't have nearly enough cushioning. I'd also suggest trying the Merrells on in a store and then ordering them from Amazon because they almost always on sale there.
Anyways, +5 miles this morning for me completely hungover, nauseated, and stomach cramping from an awesome wedding last night, plus it kept raining on me, but today was supposed to be a maximum effort day, so 5 miles in 43:30 is pretty dang good effort(and a PR) considering the circumstances.
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