I think Topo Athletic shoes may be what you are looking for. They have the roomy toe box of Altras but they also have some models with 5mm drop. I don’t personally use them, but they come highly recommended in the trail community.

Thanks! I guess it is a bit of a wild decision. I signed up for a couple of road marathons previously but both were cancelled due to covid. I had ramped up to 50 mile weeks for one before it was cancelled so the training wasn’t totally foreign.

I’d definitely recommend dabbling in trail races. It’s a wildly different experience from road racing and for me all around much more enjoyable.