I'll be running a flat non-technical 100-miler and I have a shoe-question.

What's the lightest road shoes you'd want to wear (or have worn) for a 100-miler?  I wore a 7-oz (men's size 9) Asics racer for a flat non-technical 50-miler with no problems, but I'm not sure if it will suffice for a 100-miler.  I know I can switch shoes after 50 miles if needed, but if I don't have to, that'd be even better.

My feet/legs generally do well in light shoes, but I've never tried 100 miles.  If you have specific recommendations for shoe models, that'd be great, too.  In addition to the Asics racing flats, I'm considering Skechers GoRide 7+, Skechers GoRun Ride 8, Skechers Max Road 4+, Reebok Floatride Forever Energy, Brooks Launch 6, Saucony Kinvara 10, and Asics NovaBlast.

My 100's have all warranted trail shoes, so I'm no help there. I can say I used to always wear lighter less cushioned shoes for the first half, and switch to a more cushioned shoe the second half after my feet got somewhat sore. I realized a couple years ago how stupid that was, so I now wear cushioned shoes for the entire race, and my feet don't get nearly as beat up.

 

In any race over 50 miles I'll always wear a well cushioned shoe, I don't really care about saving 2 ounces per foot of shoe weight as it simply doesn't even matter once I hit the point where I'm starting to struggle anyway.

 

Bear in mind that I'm older (51) and not a kid anymore so wearing a minimalist shoe isn't going to happen as I am less resilient that a 25 year old to such things.

I think most would probably agree with you that 2 oz won't make or break a race.  I definitely agree that it's more important to protect your feet than save a couple of ounces.  But if your feet can be protected well, I think most would choose the lighter shoes.  Would you choose 12 oz shoes if 10 oz shoes would perform just as well?  I know that there can be a big difference between 7 oz shoes and 10 oz shoes in terms of cushioning/protection, but perhaps with new advanced midsoles coming out (Vaporfly, Hyperburst, PWRUN+, etc), maybe lighter doesn't necessarily have to mean less protected or cushioned?  I agree that if a person is reduced to walking/struggling, then wearing 2-oz lighter shoe at that point won't matter too much.  But maybe, at least for some people, using lighter but still adequately cushioned shoes will delay the onset of struggling/extreme fatigue? 

Whatever I end up using, it'll be after testing the shoes over long runs.  For me, part of the fun of the training period is figuring out equipment issues like this.

I should also say that I think about 40 miles of the Hennepin Hundred is on dirt with the rest being chip and seal.  So it won't be quite as hard as running on regular roads.