Altra Men's Torin 4.5 Plush Shoe

I'm a 59 yr old runner who has running many marathon in the past 30 years. In the last 5 years I have been focusing in on ultras. I have challenging feet (Bunion and Morton's) and was concerned about my ability to continue to engage in any type of running. I have run in Asics, NB and Brooks over the years. I stumbled upon Altra and have now run in Escalate, Olympus, Timps and Torins. The wide toe box was such a relief that I continue to run...50-70 miles weekly. The Morton's is the reason that I moved to the Torin Plush. However, the new 4.5 seems to be slightly tighter in the toe box and the height also seems to have decreased. I thought it was just a 'new' shoe and that it would stretch out, however it has not. I am disappointed and will now be scouring the internet for 4.0's in my size. This unfortunately seems to be a trend with a number of models and I have noticed other individuals have noticed the toe boxes tightening. I really like zero drop, I like the wide toe box. The Plush 4.0 is the best shoe I have every run in. I believe the 4.5 is a great shoe overall but if the toe box narrows further, what is the point? Please change this back to the size of the 4.0. If it is not broke, why do you need to fix it?

For those of us who love Altra's for their wideness (among many other reasons), this shoe is a bit disappointing. Now, to preface: my feet are fairly wide, but not so wide to the point where I have to go out of my way to buy EE shoes. When I first tried this shoe on it felt amazing. It has a bouncy, cushiony lower that seemed perfect for daily training or long days. Fast-forward a couple of miles into my first run when my feet have swelled up a bit... the upper is quite tight in the mid/forefoot. This problem is further compounded by the fact that the upper has absolutely zero stretch. To mitigate this I've had to stuff towels in the shoes to stretch the upper to accommodate my feet. Even with my uppers properly stretched out, I would still appreciate a bit of stretch in the fabric to accomodate feet swelling throughout a run. If Altra took the upper of the Escalante 2.5 and strapped it to the lower of the Torin 4.5 I would take 10!