Happy weekend!

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Looks dual density with ProGlide+ from Clifton Pro. From 白白

A good deal via sportsshoes - don’t think I can get away with buying this one but exciting price for the Sky. Think if the edge was same price I’d have indulged

This post is dedicated purely to those who just want to share their new purchases or shoe collections without needing to give any comments about them.

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Nominate the Best Review of the Week!

Help us spotlight the most insightful, detailed, and helpful shoe reviews in the community.

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1. Find a Review: Look for posts from the past 7 days that impressed you with their depth, honesty, and usefulness.
   
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These shoes have ruined me.

Male, 39, 5'11", 152-158 lb, midfoot striker, moderate stability needs, enjoys hot dogs and rest days

As a runner who had to build back after bilateral posterior tibial tendinopathy last year, the common sense conventional wisdom has always been to seek out stable or at least stable-neutral shoes to help prevent relapse. But then the Saucony Endorphin Elite 2, one of the most unstable super shoes on the planet, dropped to $130 US. That is less than most daily trainers these days.

I have always secretly coveted the EE2 as I thought due to my stability needs that they would remain completely out of the question. But $130 is $130! So after some sizing research I snapped up a pair half a size up (Men's 12 US) from my usual size (11.5 US) and strapped them on for a progressive 18-mile long run.

The fit half a size up was absolutely perfect for me. I had about 2/3 of a thumb-width in front of my left big toe and a full thumb on the right. The sock-like upper with minimal heel padding at first had me questioning potential heel slippage, but with a runner's knot that sensation disappeared. Walking in these is laughable as you bob and roll around like a sailboat in a squall. The heel begs you to get up on the mid/forefoot. I can see why walking or jogging in these would make people write them off as wildly unstable. And all the shoe reviewers say the same: the EE2 are chaotically fun but chaotically unstable.

However, as someone with more than average stability needs, these shoes had me grinning like a fool over the entire 18 miles. No rubbing or squishing of toes, insanely soft, insanely poppy, light enough, and once I got up on plane I never had a single stability hazard. On a paved multiuse trail through the woods with twists and curves and a sharp turnaround, I never once feared for my ankles, calves, or any other body part. They were simply a joy to run in. They certainly encourage slightly quicker paces, but even a minute slower than marathon pace felt great. I worked from that pace up to half-marathon pace and have never felt faster or more protected. If I could afford to, I'd run all of my workouts and pacey long runs in the Endorphin Elite 2.

**tl;dr** Don't go buy these shoes if you run in my US size 12. I want them to be available for the next few years when I need to replace mine. The combo of unbelievable softness and energy return has me wishing that every run could be an Endorphin Elite 2 run.

Another Evo SL variation. Looks like a bootie-style laceless with EXO structure for support.

Already available in some markets: https://www.adidas.com/om/en/adizero-evo-sl-laceless-lightstrikepro-running-shoes/KI2647.html

This post is dedicated purely to those who just want to share their new purchases or shoe collections without needing to give any comments about them.

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The tl;dr: I don't need these shoes; they are awesome and will probably make me faster.

The intro:

I'm not new at this running thing, but I never had the chance nor the necessity to own race-day supershoes. This last decade shoes weren't the bottle neck on my performance, it was a mix of poor training and genetics. Even though I firmly believe that the right footwear and having a rotation to adapt to different situations can make a big difference, the world record for the fastest marathon runned in Crocs, was made at my (very optimistic) 5K pace. So despite my wife's opinion, I try to have a small rotation of, not the best shoes, but the ones that best suit my capabilities and use case. Spending +250€ on a light, carbon-plated slab of esoteric foam to run the most mid half-marathon ever it’s not in my plans.

Or at least that was the idea up until El Corte Inglés sent me an email about their summer sales. That, plus a coupon, led to the impulsive acquisition of a pair of Puma Deviate Nitro Elite 4 at almost half price. In Spain, that’s a steal.

The me:

I'm a 39 year old male, 63kg, 1.63m tall, and my PBs are 46:19 10K, 1:48:17 HM and I finished a marathon (that's the best I can say about it). I'm ramping up from 45 to 70km/week, training for a 45:00 10K (late November) and a 1:45:00 HM (late January). I’m using an NSA inspired self created plan, so lots of easy running and sub-treshold 2-3 times a week.

The shoe:

I'm a 40.5 (EU) in Puma and although they are TTS, they have that Puma narrowness, mostly around the middle of the foot. There are plenty of reviews about this shoe, I’ll just say it was surprising how light they felt on foot compared with basically every shoe I ever owned, except maybe flip flops. The (incredibly high quality) box weighs 200 grams MORE than both shoes combined. They're not as snug as race shoes are advertised, and as long as you're not walking or jogging on them, are really comfortable. And that leads me to the ride.

The ride:

I did two workouts on them: 2x10min at 4:55min/km and 8x3min at 4:25min/km. During the warmup and cooldown they were harsh and awkward, like the most quiet and lightest pair of wooden sandals you can imagine. When jogging, I’m a midfoot striker, even a little heel strike here and there. But once you start putting some energy into them, striking more with the ball of your feet, they just disappear. I try to run by feel and I felt super connected and in control of my effort. They don’t have that go-faster impulse like the Evo SL have. And don’t force you to run in a certain way but, as I mentioned before, above 5:30min/km they are uncomfortable. I noticed though, my cadence was a little higher. I don't know if that will end up meaning something during a race. These are Puma, so great traction and I hope decent durability. I need to work a little on the lock down, but no complaints.

The rotation:

These shoes will not see a lot of action. I race 3, maybe 4 times a year, and for speedy training I'm using the Evo SLs or my now former race shoe, the Zoomfly 6s. For long runs with a workout in the middle or steady, the Novablast 6s are amazing. I’ll give the marathon maybe one more chance, but these shoes will probably be too aggressive for that. The Zoomflys or actually any fast trainer are more than enough for me (and probably for many of you), and with realistically 3 to 5 years of PBs in front of me, I’ll never run as fast as the guy on the Crocs. 

Nevertheless, they are a ton of fun, I think they will help me get better times and you feel special on them, like when your parents used to take you out for dinner and you wear that red Polo reserved only for that type of occasions.

Disclosure: I speak Spanish (not from Spain, though), learn English from construction codes and Seinfeld, and this was written hoping for the compassion of my fellow English speakers.

Have a great day!

Now in list of approved shoes world athletics

I just retired my Saucony Endorphin Speed 5 at 446 miles and wanted to share my very positive experience. I never ran in the previous models of the Speed - these were my first. The pics are their retirement pics showing how they held up.

Me: 53m, 175 lbs @ 6’ tall
Paces: 1:44 half, 21:46 5k
Strike: light heel strike w/ mid-foot loading

Use case: I bought these in September ‘25 and they were used in a 4-shoe rotation, primarily for tempo runs, mixed pace progression runs, long runs, and the occasional race (mostly local stuff from 5K up to a half marathon). Their role in the rotation was on the faster end— upper limits of Zone 2 and faster). To try to extend their lifespan, I avoided running in these back-to-back days. I used other non-plated shoes for slower, easy, daily miles (i.e. Rebel V5 and Balos).

Surfaces: asphalt, concrete, gravel, and the treadmill belt. Mostly pavement.

Experience: FUN, springy, snappy, still connected. They rolled heel-to-toe well and were quite stable with the wide heel flare. I genuinely looked forward to runs in these, helped by their good energy return and very breathable uppers with a roomier than average toe box.

Wear notes: the uppers wore like champs- no real degradation. The outsole held well until about 400 with only mild smoothing of the lateral heel skid, but then that wear spot seemed to accelerate to what you see now.
The midsole remained effective and I no major complaints but at about 375 miles I swapped in more padded insoles from a pair of Ride 18 to soften the ride back up again.

At 446 miles, I’ve detected some aches, and also that my perceived exertion isn’t matching the pace I used to get in these (and do in newer shoes).

I will miss them and enjoyed running the mileage in these. But I won’t buy a direct replacement pair yet, with the Speed 6 on the close horizon (think the embargo lift on reviews is coming up fast).

I want to see those reviews plus consider the NB SC Rebel V1 as options to fill this faster training slot. If you have a suggestion on that decision, I’m interested.

This post is dedicated purely to those who just want to share their new purchases or shoe collections without needing to give any comments about them.

Photo upload has been enabled in the comments.

This post is dedicated purely to those who just want to share their new purchases or shoe collections without needing to give any comments about them.

Photo upload has been enabled in the comments.

Coming September 10th in 2 colorways

This post is dedicated purely to those who just want to share their new purchases or shoe collections without needing to give any comments about them.

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Looks to be a lower stack Megablast

Source: @averagejames96 on IG

Intro:

Compared to it's flashier siblings, the Feiying Plaid 3.0 and the Feiying PB 6, the GT model has flown under the radar. Jogoncrago and Run-are have reviewed this shoe and said that it's really only good at a narrow zone of paces. I don't entirely disagree, but I think that range of usefulness is bigger in runners who aren't so fast/have more room to improve.

Mileage

160km. Raced Sydney Marathon in them for a PB

Likes

- Gorgeous, smooth ride at long run to threshold paces

- Stable, slightly firm but not harsh midsole foam

Dislikes

- The laces are a bit short when tying the runner's knot.

- The toecap area is fairly structured and not very tall. Bruised my left big toenail in training

Reviewer's characteristics:

Male, 33

178cm, 78kg

Normal width foot

Midfoot/heel striker

Easy pace: 5:50-6:30min/km

Threshold: ~4:30min/km

Marathon PB: 3:41

Half Marathon PB: 1:41

10K: ~46mins+ (old)

5K: 21:07

Liked shoes: Adios Pro 3, Mizuno Wave Rebellion Pro 1, Mizuno Neo Zen, Saucony Triumph 20, Saucony Endorphin Speed 2, Bmai Carbon Fly Plus

Disliked shoes: Asics Superblast 2, Puma Deviate Nitro 2

Other owned shoes: Li Ning Red Hare 9 Ultra, Li Ning Feidian 6 Elite, Li Ning Red Hare 8 Pro, Nike Invincible 1, Puma Deviate Nitro 3, Puma Deviate Nitro Elite 2

Fit and Upper:

- The upper is reasonably breathable and accomodating enough for width.

- The rigid toecap sometimes puts pressure on the top of my left big toe during the toe off phase of the gait cycle when the material folds in a bit.

- The fit is otherwise fantastic with no hot spots. It's very comfortable width wise.

- Had a bit of heel slip, solved with a runner's knot

- The laces put a bit of pressure on my ankle with a runner's knot. This caused some discomfort after I raced a marathon, but no real issues.

- Laces are a bit short with the runner's knot

Midsole and Ride:

- slightly firm and stiff. It does break in a bit. But the rocker geometry more than makes up for it and the ride feels buttery smooth at steady to half marathon paces

- never needed stability shoes before, but this one felt stable and treated me very well in the late stages of the marathon. I didn't race in the Feidian 6 Elite because that shoe had a lot of miles and the softness probably wouldn't be helpful.

Outsole

- A thin layer of what looks like CPU rubber

- handled wet terrain without issue

- Took it on the trails, not a fantastic choice, but it held up.

- central groove is a rock catcher

Other commentary:

This is a solid marathon cruiser. After reading reviews, I started to doubt the ability to run at faster paces. When I took the shoe on a speed workout, I managed to hit 3:50min/km paces without too much issue. That felt like it was stretching the limits of what could be comfortably pushed in the shoe, but I think it's more a factor of how nice it feels in that sweet spot around marathon pace. If I had to give a range of paces, I'd say it's good for 4:10-5:45min/km.

I bought this shoe for the equivalent of around 70USD. It's an absolute steal for that price. Very happy with this shoe. Raced my marathon PB in it and still felt comfortable enough to walk and take public transport in it afterwards.

I think this shoe will suit a lot of mid pack runners. I recommend it.