Fli-Lyte 6

Everybody's feet are different, so that's a tough answer. I have collapsed arches and over-pronate, fairly severely with my left foot, and have had varying success with wildly different shoes. The key for me is a stable heel matched to a non-intrusive arch. I had to trial and error quite a bit with different shoes. I like running in the Saucony Hurricane 24 because it has a lot of good cushion, a lot of different stability elements going on, without having a traditional medial post. There's enough cushion that I feel protected, matched with enough guidance that I'm not moving/wobbling excessively anywhere. The New Balance 860v14 is similar for me, though it's less exciting and the arch-support is slightly more intrusive. I tried the Saucony Hurricane 25 on in store and they seem lighter and a touch more sporty feeling. The Saucony Triumph 20 oddly enough works great for me as well because the lockdown is flawless for me in addition to a stable feeling heel. I think a good, stable heel keeps my inner-ankle from rotating inward and is just enough that I'm not beating up my foot/arch. These next two are really oddballs for me and it took me years to even consider giving them a shot.  On a whim I tried a Saucony Kinvara 15 and Altra Escalante 4 recently and love them both.  I always figured this type of shoe would never ever work for me, but they do.  The light, low, firm setup is inherently stable and the ground-feel allows me to really focus on my form: not slamming my feet or heels down, running quietly is what I tell myself.  I think many shoes just have too much height and squish that allows too much movement for me and lower stack, firmer shoes leave less room for error.  The Kinvara feels both light and minimal but just protective enough at the same time. They also have minimal arch-humps so I never feel uncomfortable pressure there. I keep runs in these shoes less than 5 miles since they're on the more minimal side. Here are some that did not work for me: Saucony Guide 16: horrible, painful stiff medial post, slappy shoe New Balance 860v12: too firm, invasive arch New Balance 1080v12: insane instability Adidas Adizero SL2: I occasionally use these but they are very soft with minimal structure Topo Fly-lite 5: rock-hard, invasive arch support, wildly uncomfortable Brooks Adrenaline GTS 19: like running in a wooden clog 

Altra Escalante might scratch your itch. 0mm drop, 24mm midsole stack and they're only $130. The Topo Fli-Lyte 6 has a 3mm drop but only 23mm in the heel and 20 in the forefoot and they cost $130 also. You might even find the fli-lyte 5 on sale still.

I've been all Altra for years now (road and trail) but also have been fighting some long-term Achilles issues. Not blaming the shoes, but alongside a PT program I've decided to mix in some shoes that are not zero drop. Altra has a line of shoes now that are not zero drop, they are 4mm: [https://www.altrarunning.com/en-us/product-families/experience-family](https://www.altrarunning.com/en-us/product-families/experience-family) If you like Altras for their wide toe box (as I do) then do look at Topo. I've long ignored them as I found the arch support much to high but I did just purchase a pair of Topo Flylite 5 for short road runs and my general workouts. I'll likely get a pair of the Altra Experience Flows for longer road runs as I think the rocker shape will help a little as well. I'm sticking with zero drop for trails though as I have three very new pairs of shoes for training and racing.

You could probably continue to wear normal widths if you switched up to Topo’s since you mainly need space in the forefoot/toebox area and they should be plenty roomy for you. Since you’re a small size person, you probably don’t need a max cushion shoe unless you really want one, so the Topo Specter 2, Cyclone 3, and even the Fli-Lyte will suit your needs depending on the distance that you’re running. Both Specter and Cyclone have the Pebax race foam and I like it a lot.

Topo has you covered. I think you’d be looking at something like the Fli-Lyte or the Magnifly or the Cyclone (more money but more responsive). Honestly, I am 50/50 on these max stack/max cushion shoes. There’s a time and a place for them… long training runs… recovery runs after a hard effort. But like… feet also need a workout and that doesn’t really happen in these max cushion shoes. I also think a lot of people got into running over the last few years and don’t remember/don’t know a time of what old shoes feel like. I still have trouble with a shoe with too much cushion because I remember the shoes I wore when I first started running way back when and it’s pretty different than the shoes of today.

I really like the Topo Fly-Lite. They're nothing fancy so they don't get talked about a lot, but if you just want a simple running shoe that will get out of your way, I think they fit the bill. I use them as my daily trainer.