For me, no serious running goals can launch without a fresh pair of these bad boys: Vibram V-trail 2.0s (size 15)! I am actually quite limited in my choice of running shoe due to apparently being a not-so-distant cousin to Sasquatch. Luckily for me, when I converted to the barefootish running movement after reading Born to Run, Vibram had me covered with their Five (big) Fingers line maxing out in my size!
Of course, being the all-or-nothing type that I am, I first tried actual barefoot running, but after six miles of asphalt having never walked on anything rougher than ceramic tile without shoes since I was a kid, I basically turned our foyer into a crime scene when I got back to the house; "streaked with gore" was the phrase that kept running through my mind. Luckily, my horrified, but tolerant and supportive partner was able to patch me up and get me ambulatory again but insisted I try to find something, anything, to put between me and the road if I was going to become a barefoot evangelist. She's wicked smaht like that.