[[File:HokaOlympusSlice.JPG|none|thumb|x300px|A comparison between the Altra Olympus and Hokas.]]
Ever wonder what the inside of your shoe looks like? Take a look inside; I've cut many of my shoes in half to reveal their construction, as you can see above. You can see a gallery at [[Shoe Dissection]], as well as in the detailed shoe reviews.
=Foot Shape =
Very few shoes have a shape that mirrors the human foot. It often seems like shoe companies have never seen a human foot before given the strange shape they make their shoes. This is especially true of Hoka, which have a particularly small toe box. The main company with shoes for the human foot is Altra, and once you've tried their shoes the traditional shoe shape seems even more bizarre. (The Mizuno Cursoris is a notable exception that also has a nice toe box shape.)
[[File:AltraRight.png|none|thumb|500px|A light hearted look at how other shoe makers seem to be designing for a strange shaped foot.]]
=The Outsole=
To achieve a light weight with maximum cushioning, many shoes don't use a hard rubber outsole over the softer midsole. This can result in uneven wear patterns when the midsole erode away from around the patches of outsole. In the image below, the red arrows mark the soft midsole and the blue arrows mark the hard outsole, with the green arrow indicating an intermediate toughness material.
[[File:MDMC Soles.jpg|none|thumb|500px|From left to right is the Torin, the Cursoris, the Virrata and the Bondi B.]]