[Music] If you listen to this show before, you know that I love geeking out on biomechanics and the signs of running. And that's one of the reasons that I took the certified endurance running coach course from Run DNA. It's a course design not just for coaches, but honestly anyone that wants to deepen their understanding of the science and evidence behind how to manage things like training load and design training so that you can get to the goals that you want to achieve. It's a great course that blends the evidence based and science based teaching with extremely practical tools that you can actually use. Again, whether that's for yourself in your own training or if you are someone who is coaching others, it's also helped me understand training so that I can help other people that I'm working with in physical therapy. This is a course that has been taken by over 10,000 people around the globe and I can vouch that this education can give you a really solid foundation of thinking of the why and how you go about run training for yourself or others. If you want to check it out, you can go to rundna.com and use the code DOR20 to get 20% off the endurance coaching certification. Hello everybody and welcome to the Doctor of Running podcast where we, a group of Doctor of Physical Therapy, discussed the art and science of running and the stuff that we put on our feet. What an exciting day it is today because we have all four of us here. We have Dr. Matthew Klein, the founder of Doctor of Running, Dr. David Salas, Dr. Andrew Meyers, and myself. I'm Nathan Brown and we get together once a year, at least once a year, but usually ends up being once a year because of our conflicting schedules to talk about our favorite shoes of the year that we are rounding up. We're getting to the end of 2025. We're going to take some time to talk through what our top five favorite shoes were for each of us. For this year, we have not shared our top picks with each other. It will be a little bit of a surprise reveal for us as well, but it's really fun to get the whole team together and get to really chat as an entire team. So thank you all for making time for us to record all at the same time. Does anybody have any exciting things that they want to talk about before we get rolling? All of my sports teams are not doing very well, so we'll just pretend that that part of this conversation doesn't exist. Well, I'll say my fun stat for sports then Badger football has been pretty awful. We beat as of recording yesterday, we beat Washington, who was six and two ranked 23rd in the country, we were two and six. We beat them 13 to 10 and our leading a past person, the person with the most passing yards was our backup punter. So you know you're a good team when you're with 24 some yards, something like that. You know you're good when that's happening. So that's my good news and fun fact for the day. I guess let's get into it. Let's get into our infrotesting segment. This is powered and fueled by scratch. I'm actually sipping on some scratch. If you're ever in the Stevens Point area, check out soldier and booksellers, not a sponsor for the podcast, but they do have an awesome book shop and then up top they kind of have like an awesome cocktail lounge. And they do like silent book clubs and stuff like that. But I've got apple cider hot apple cider in here because it snowed outside and there's snow out there. So it's a good day to have hot apple cider. What do you got in for testing though? I'm, I don't know what's in this hot apple cider, but I am in a mood. No, it's interacting with your brain. Obviously. Yeah. What do you got Andrea? I've got the Velmero premium, which I was actually kind of excited for with the four foot pods. Basically any Nike shoe that has four foot pods. Well, that's not true. I didn't like alpha fly to or alpha fly three that much. But I'll fly one I did. And the Nike Victory 2 spike, which I've been racing in all year has those great pods. So I was interested what this shoe would feel like. And I've got to say out of every maxed act shoe I've tested. This is definitely the bounciest things to this four foot pod right here. I'm sure it's pretty bouncy back here too, but I don't really interact with that part of the shoe. So I land more midfoot. But what I like about it besides its ride it fits nicely. It's a little wider in the toe box than the other Velmero models that we've gotten this year, both the regular Velmero and the Velmero plus were a little too narrow in the toe box for me. This one is super comfortable. So if you didn't like the first two, you might actually like the fit of this one if you need a wider toe box like me. This year reminds me a lot of the new balance, S e trainer one. So rockered that it kind of runs for you. But unlike the S e trainer one, it is super bouncy. So definitely has a little more energy than the S e trainer one, which was just kind of heavy and rolling. Yes, Matt. Quick take that shoe or the Puma mag max, which one would you go for mag max? I got it. Well, you know, the reason for that I wouldn't use this shoe on like an up tempo run. It's just too much shoe. So like I'm really using shoes like this for easier recovery runs. And actually it's a little too bouncy for me for that. Like I just want to show that I can kind of like roll along in. And this shoe feels like it makes me run a little faster than I need to be doing on easy days. Whereas the mag max, it's also bouncier than most maxed-ex years. But it's not quite as aggressive as the side would say. So mag max all the way, which I know you disagree with. Yes. Matt, what do you got in for testing? Oh, do you have something else? I was just going to say we're putting that review out next week. So before this podcast is released. So everyone can hear our conflicting opinions. Great. Maybe Matt, what do you got? You should go first. David should go first. All right. The best for last. Yeah. So I also have the Nikevo Merro premium. So this will definitely be released before the written review that is before the podcast errors because I wrote it yesterday. So I can't imagine it's it for over a week. But yeah, similar experience. Very, very bouncy shoe. And it's just a lot of shoe. I mean, it's like 55 millimeters of stack in the heel. 45 in the form like this thing is like the four foot is taller than most shoes heels, you know, and the full zoom X length and the AirPods like there is so much like compliance to it. It almost feels like you're landing into like the zoom X compresses down and then the air pot almost feels a little bit like a water bed where like it kind of like lands and one and you kind of this like fluid like roll through it. And then it just springs off of the other side and that's a sensation. I've gotten in the four foot of other shoes like Andrew was saying like in the heel. I've never really had that before in a training shoe and it was a unique experience and it was fun. It's a lot of shoe though. It was like 11 and a half ounces or something like for me, I'm a little sensitive to it. So like I can really appreciate the shoe. And I think for what they were going for they did a good job with. Yeah, it's just a lot of shoe next shoe on the docket that will be on my feet and I've been breaking it in at work and I so far I like it a lot but I still have to run in it. But this is the Diodora Tomo star. Their premium option. This one is definitely on the price here and it's right around 240 or 250 super you know critical midsole rocker and sole premium upper like so far at least on foot. It does feel nice. The rocker does feel like it's dialed in well and the upper materials do feel premium for what it's worth. So we'll see how that feels when once we get it running, but that's the Diodora Tomo star. What are you mad? The only thing that I've been getting more miles in. I'll skip one of them because it's in my top five, but the other one is the new balance 1080 V 15. I've been getting more miles in on that I spoke about it when I recorded with Andrea a couple weeks ago and my first couple runs were kind of like, oh, this is exciting feels a little bit lighter and I was I still think it's a movement in the right direction, but it is not like a vaulting into some new category of trainer as I've ran in it more it still has that softer platform. So this is a lot in the four foot so you're going to want that flexible four foot and the softer platform still kind of adds to like extension of the four foot because you're sinking in of the big toe and then it also is flexible. So it still gives you that I've enjoyed it for easy stuff, but even though it's lighter, I'm not going to be pushing pace and it doesn't really make it that much more vert. So I think it's a nice trainer, I think it's a movement in the right direction. It doesn't vault it into this new like whoa this new foam is making sure that it's this you know do it all trainer. I think it's just an easy day trainer can do some higher mild stuff if people like the softer feel and flexible four foot to be fair though. I look at it almost like I look at like let's say the vomero or vomero plus like it's meant to just be like a premium trainer for easy miles. So I wouldn't it does it well. Yeah, I wouldn't expect it to be fast.
I think I was interacting with myself. Because I was before on my first couple, I was like, I think this could be an exciting shoe for more than what it's been in the past. And so in response to myself from a few weeks ago, I'm saying I think it's more of what it's supposed to be, which is good. It doesn't just fine. All right, Matt. All right, best for last. So we'll do the best. Okay. I'm going to cause problems as always, but I'll start off slow. So I've got the de-adora cellula too, which is how I hope I've improved that. It's been, it's true. It's true, I don't know. Shady, yeah. Shady, that whatever. It's been a really kind of classic to what I've experienced with de-adora, where it's pretty narrow. And it is breaking in over time, but just much more of a close fit. I am still confused whether this is a stability shoe or not, because the medial, like there's significant sidewalls here, but like the medial pressure, my arch is pretty high. So it's actually been solid. And the forfeit rocker's good enough that even though it's a low drop, it hasn't bothered my heel. I'm just a little disappointed that the bevel is biased immediately, which I'll have more conversations about when we do the review, but getting some miles on that. I've also got the rad UFO, which was had a friend of mine reach out personally, who works with them. And this is a full-length people lightweight trainer from rad, who usually makes like kind of hybrid training, kind of like weightlifting shoes. And they actually have done a really, really good job. But I got about 30 miles on my pair. Like I said, full-length people midsole. There's no plate. So it's a little flexibility. I think this is going to be one of those great shoes for recreation runners, looking for kind of that super-esque kind of shoe for long runs or racing, where maybe something with a plate to aggressive. It's been really, really comfortable thus far. Some sliding security stuff in the upper that I'm dealing with, but outside of that, it's been great. And best for last, I have, and I'm going to get in trouble for talking about this on the pod. The Sockini Tempest 3, which thank you, Marilyn, for sending. We have some cool fans, one of which was in China as they were listening to me complain about not being able to get access to the Tempest 3. And they messaged us and saying, "Hey, I'm literally staying next to a Sockini store in China. Do you want me to grab you a pair?" And I said, "Yes." And these came about and it's been a really interesting shoe. Because before you even get to talk about it, I'm going to recap some of the behind the scenes. First of all, you said her name is Marilyn. It's Marilyn. You're probably a very nice person. You're enabling Matt in one of the things like areas that he needs growth, okay? Second thing is Matt sees this email, gets super excited. He sends it to our internal chat, "Guys, should I do this?" I think everyone said, "You shouldn't do it." I'm pretty sure we all said, "I'm sure Marilyn is a really nice person and very trustworthy, probably not worth sending somebody random person money for them to send you a shoe that may or may not be the shoe." And then the shoe shows up. And so here we are. So you've got a cool fan. I feel unbelievably blessed and really very honored. It's been an interesting ride. I have next to no information on this shoe other than knowing it's an 8-millimeter drop. And it's much lighter. I dropped about almost an ounce based on my measurement compared to the Tempest 2. It is a China-only shoe. I'm going to do probably a comparison review to the Tempest 2. You know what it called? The video is usually like, "Should I upgrade? I'm going to call it you can't upgrade." Because it's a China-only shoe. It was developed with Sockini, X-Step, which X-Step owns Sockini in China. It was developed by that team, not by the US team at all. So it will stay there. It's not coming here. It's been an interesting shoe. It's actually not very comfortable for easy miles. It feels fairly clunky. I thought the power on HG was going to feel like the Indoorfinally run. It doesn't. It is definitely firmer than the Indoorfinally run. And fairly clunky and not super comfortable and running easy. When you pick up the pace though, that's been where I've been very surprised where all of a sudden it really can handle. Optampo stuff really well, workouts, and I had one of my best workouts in this shoe. It's too large. I think for me to take for racing and stuff like that. But it can move. And so I can understand why this would not come to the US market. It's going to be too firm for most people. But once you pick up the pace, it's actually pretty solid. And pretty much the lightest and only like stability, Optampo shoe that we've really got out there still. So it's interesting. Upper is also really high volume, but tapered in the forefoot. So I'm really honored to be able to try this. But I'm also under I understand why it might it might stay in one market. So while it's cool, part of me kind of gets it. But I'll be getting more miles and maybe drop some videos before socking reaches out and says, please cease and desist on that. All right. Well, that is what we have for infertesting segment, which is always fueled by scratch labs. If you're interested in trying out any of their fuel or any of their hydration stuff, you can go to scratchlabs.com and use the code, Doctors of Running for 20% off your order. That's the right code, right? Yeah. Okay. Doctors of running. We have another code that's the order 20. Not this one. Doctors of running for 20% off your first order. Well, let's get into the fun stuff. We're going to talk about our top five shoes for the year. What we're going to do is talk about our top five shoes, not categorically. We will each release a written version of our categorical top shoes for the year where we talk about our top trainer, our top racing shoe, our top trail shoe, et cetera. But for today, we're just looking at the entire mass of shoes that we've tested and we're picking our personal top five. We're going to go as a group from our fifth favorite down to our first favorite. And let's kick it off. Fifth favorite shoe of the year. I say favorite on purpose because we don't think that there is a best shoe because that's going to depend on the person. We always try to give that caveat as well. But it's our personal best, our personal favorites and looking at our top five. So let's start with you, Andrea. What is your number five top shoe the year? And obviously, if you have an honorable mention, now's the time. Sorry. I do not have an honorable mention. I didn't know we were doing those. But I'll just do my five. I will say that when I made this list, I was like, wow, I really like all five of these shoes pretty equally. It's actually been a really great year for shoe innovation and just shoes that I've tested that I've really enjoyed and are now a major part of my shoe rotation. So I wouldn't say that these really are in order because I like them all equally. But I'll just start with one. And that is the Topo Flylight 6. Nice. I've never run in the fly light before. And I wish that I had, because I wish I had known about this shoe before. This shoe is awesome. It is like just low stack, low drop, lightweight, firmer midsole, mostly stiff, a little flexibility in the forefoot. And it can do everything. I use it on easy runs, use it for strides, I use it for workouts. I just love it. Thank you Topo for sending this to me. Specs. It's 23 in the heel, 20 in the forefoot, 3 millimeter drop. It's 7.8 ounces for a men's size 9, 6.3 for women's 7. So like nice and lightweight. I would definitely say for people looking for a cushioned shoe, this is not it. I'm not sure if you're just looking for basic daily trainer that can handle pretty much any pace. This is a shoe I would highly recommend. It's kind of one of my beacon replacements. And new balance hasn't brought it back yet. I'm still holding out new balance, bring back the beacon. But for the meantime, the fly light 6 is a really nice option. The top shoe episode is not a top shoe episode unless the beacon is brought up. So thank you. We actually could end the episode now. I'll go next. I have one quick honorable mention. It's also Topo and it's the Phantom 4 really nice trainer from them this year. I got a lot of miles on it in the spring. The only reason I didn't crack my top five was some of the biocene that happens not even from like the platform. But like internally they have a little bit of a build up on the kind of like medial and lateral sides where the sidewalls kind of like pushed into my foot a little bit. So that was my only fault of this shoe. But I think the movement forward with the new zip foam was just a touch softer which made it feel a little bit more lively as well. So and I like that it was flexible in the four foot simple trainer. I got some longer miles in on the shoe. That's my honorable mention. My number five couldn't be any more different but it is the Vomero premium and I agree with everything that y'all said in the beginning about the infertesting with this. This is the shoe I've gotten like all my miles on in the last few weeks and I have just loved the that bounce and the rocker to it. And as the joggeriest jogger of the group meaning I'm the slowest person here by a pretty good clip. I have actually loved it for like my runs which typically are like 930 down to 845 minute per mile and it's worked really well for that. I feel like I've gotten into especially on that slower part that slower rhythm and because I'm using it for that slower paces and I would love it.
it for longer runs at that pace as well. I don't notice the weight at all. I've never thought, "Oh, this feels over 11 ounces. I would definitely feel that if I was trying to go any faster." I wouldn't use this for even steady state stuff, but I've loved it for my true, easy runs and some of the slightly longer things too. That's my number five. I think the fit is really great as well. David, do you want to go next? I can go next. I do have an honorable mention. I just want to say I am glad that we have a cutoff at five because with today's times, it could very easily be six or seven. We're not going to go there. Honorable mention for me. It's one of those shoes where it was kind of just on the edge of making a list the entire year for me. It was the very, very early release, right? This was January or February and it's just kind of hung on the entire year and then just kind of slipped right off the edge of the list. I feel like I have to mention it. It's been a go-to for me all year. I like it. It's got a power-round plus midsole. It's not super high up by today's standards. It's right around 37 in the heel, eight millimeter drops of 20-28, 29 in the forefoot. It's just a nice, neutral trainer. It's like right in the mid-9s as far as ounces go. Solid shoe. So, didn't quite make the list today, but that's okay. Mine number five. The on, cloud, ultra pro. Great shoe. Yeah. Solid shoe. I really like it. It's got heel on HF as the base midsole and then it's obviously got a trail outsole. This is a trail shoe and it's pretty rare when I get a trail shoe and I immediately am like, "Oh my gosh, this feels lively and fun, but not just in a fast way." Sometimes they feel like you want to just go rip a hard trail and a technical downhill, but this is an ultra shoe. This is looking at massive distances and it has a very controlled bounce to it that feels really fun and lively and secure without feeling too aggressive. I feel like I can easily just settle into pace and it's just really nice. Balance rocker. It does have a little speedboard in there, but it's great. If I was to run an ultra marathon tomorrow, I probably would choose this in the trails. So, that is my number five. Do it. Do it. I don't think I'm in my ultra area yet. It almost happened. It almost stated if I would have held up my end of the bargain. Matt, what do you got for your number five? All right. So, I have two honorable mentions. The on Cloud Ultra Pro is very much an honorable mention there. Again, because I don't get as many trail miles as I would like, although I actually have almost 100 miles on that shoe and should have a 100 mile review up pretty soon. Hopefully, it was great. It's great. It's also been so comfortable that normally I don't wear super shoes walking around. That's been one of the variations where I'm like, definitely traveling like on the airport. It's been such a comfortable shoe because it's got a little extra volume, a little extra width and just rolls really nicely. It's very much that, hey, it's not the fastest shoe for me, but it's definitely like, hey, I can just roll in this for miles and done some great trail long runs while pushing a stroller and that thing in feed of felt great. So, it's, yeah, great shoe. The other shoe that I would add here that will be a little controversial is the Sockini and Dorphin trainer, which very, very early in the year. I think this is one of the more approachable shoes with the Increder Run, which is a very awesome foam. Yeah, the durability is better than previous versions. Like, this is my left shoe. The outsole did hang on, although I'm, I'm certain tear through the exposed midsole here. It was just such a great versatile shoe doing everything from long runs to some pretty awesome workouts in this shoe. Yeah, there's a decent like carbon-powered plate, but I just think a lot of people pooped this shoe and I think now that it's coming down and priced like 150 bucks, it's a great deal, especially being stable neutral. So, I really enjoyed it. But my number five is going to be the Nike Vemero Plus. I really enjoyed this shoe. It is not the most stable thing on the market, but just the Zoom X, the way it's tuned is really, really comfortable. It was basically what I was hoping the Vemero would be and think both David and I really liked previous years Vemero, the newest Vemero. Actually, to me, the Vemero 17, am I thinking that 18, 18, now, 17 on the hybrid. So, well, they both have hybrid missiles, but you know what I mean? The newer one is, yeah. So 18, I had a little bit of trouble with the outsole coming off quickly. It was a great walking shoe. And maybe it's because I live in the Oregon area, which is right near Nike. Like, I see people wearing it all the time. I think it's a great walking shoe. Running shoe, it's okay. Like, as it breaks in, if I glue the missile back on, it gets better, the Vemero Plus is really what I was hoping that she would be. It's got some solid belts. It's a really good shoe. To me, still has some versatility where it's not meant for this, but it can still pick up the pace. It's light enough and it's got some Zoom X. It just, I really enjoyed it. Got a hundred miles on it, a hundred mile review and just found it to be really nice and comfortable, which is not, and I'm going to say this is not meaning to come off the wrong way. It has been something I feel like Nike has really struggled with with their trainers where I don't feel like the same efforts pushed into obviously they're racing shoes are like these high level things, but it's nice to see some of the trainers actually come up to and go, "Oh, okay, we're getting some really good stuff," because most people are going to be wearing this stuff and it's nice to see some effort here. Durability is also awesome. This is a hundred miles and there's really like nowhere on the outsole. So, durability crushed in this shoe. So, definitely, and the out-to-the-midsole is holding on extremely well if I was like exactly the same after a hundred miles. So, like, getting your monies worth out of this shoe, definitely a great option for that, which has become even more important in today's world. So, that's my number five. Cool. I had the Vamero 18 was like my mid-year trainer and it was close to my list because I actually got along really well with that shoe. I didn't try the Vamero Plus, but the Vamero and Premium were both hits for me this year. Okay, let's go into our number four. I'm going to kick us off for number four and my number four is a shoe that was on my mid-year awards and that shoe is the Skechers Arrow Burst. So, I had this as kind of my long run mid-year award and it's kind of stood up for in that for me and just as a trainer, I think for what you get out of this shoe at $140, the value is really there too. I think the foam stands up with other shoes in the 140 to 160 even 170 range. You get a good amount of foam. It's like 43 to 37, I think. I think it's a six-mail drop and it just has a solid rocker, decent foam. It's not going to blow your socks off in terms of how "fun" it is to run in, but it's just held up in all the other models that have come out really durable. It's grippy enough and it has not worn down at all and the foam has kind of held its structure. So, I've been happy with this shoe clocks in for me at my number four. Let's go back the other way, Matt, what do you got for your number four? Alright, so David is going to make fun of me endlessly for having this be a top five shoe because I complained about it endlessly, but my number four is going to be the ASICs Metispeed Edge Tokyo. Yeah, this shoe I did not get along with initially. I was actually very disappointed. The upper actually tore my feet up and that probably was because I had a pair of socks that had a hole in it and so obviously, you do not wear these sock lists. The midsole, even though I've actually raced in this shoe, it just felt like I couldn't get out of it what I was expecting out of the Metispeed Edge. That has totally changed to the shoe as broken in. And like ironically, the Metispeed Edge Paris, the longer this shoe has gone with me, the better it's felt. The midsole took a while to break in. Now that I'm getting into that 80 90 mile range, it is doing phenomenal. It's going to be a shoe that if I do a turkey trot, I'm taking this with me. It's great. It moves really quick. Also the way the plate is designed and the what the forfeit rocker works very well. It's one of the few shoes I can handle right now with the recovering Achilles X. It's been great. Just actually yesterday was hit in 520 pace for one case, pushing a stroller. So it is handling really well. And I guess what I'm learning is some of these new phones. Sometimes just I don't know if it's my body having to figure out how to load them or if it's just the phone taking time to break in. But it's been awesome. And again, I've got 90 miles on my pair. There's basically nowhere on the outsole and the midsole is just getting better. So I think for cost wise, this is also a really, really great option, especially with how insane light it is. My only caveat with this shoe is getting the upper to really lock in can be a little troublesome. Like it just takes some finessing because there's obviously nothing here. And if you're sliding around, you can get some blistering and you're going to be careful lace bite. But outside of that, it's been great and it's moved its way up. Not my top one, but it's definitely getting better and better. And so that for that reason, it's definitely in my top five. I have a question. Awesome. Do you think your foot strike changes when you run with the treadmill? I'm not treadmill. Sorry. My gosh. The stroller. Why I don't know why I don't know why. Yes. And we actually have some early evidence suggests that as if you run with the stroller, you're loading really shifts towards your hips and your ankles. And so you also start you get like higher like four foot and plentifulx are loads. So I'm pretty sure I'm landing further forward. But yeah. So it definitely changes my mechanics. So that is what it's worth it to make sure. Specifically, we're seeing more and more
or heels survive on your shoes. Where that used to be like a big thing, like the heels survived. And we've seen quite a few shoes, including racing shoes that they have survived. - That's the answer. - That's fair. - That's fair for me. I would say what I think ASICS does that makes survive and the previous generations also did this, is they've got that full coverage. There's nothing for me to catch. 'Cause I still catch my feet. The Vemero 18 is a great example if I ripped that out so off within a few miles and I dubbed that to several shoes still. But I do think you're right. 'Cause my wear pattern has moved up into the midfoot from the heel just probably because of that, whether the killi's thing is a result of that or cause that. We don't know, but definitely pushing a stroller for sure will definitely influence that. But the previous one, even pre Isabella, was doing fine and didn't wear either. So it handles pretty well. - There are really good. But yeah, good for racing models. - Yeah. - It is. - Yeah, I'll go next. So number four for me, if you asked me at the beginning of the year, if I would have a shoe from this company on my top five, I probably would have left. But this shoe's awesome. It's the Tier Maverick V1. So high stack, super lightweight, very streamlined, just smooth, rocker profile. Kind of a sharper toe spring up front. So you kind of always feel like you're kind of rolling into that next step. We talked about this before, but this is kind of what I pictured like the glide ride max from A6, like what it kind of should have been in my eyes. And it's just a really rhythmic fun shoe. The foam, okay, it's not, it's a super critical type of knitzel, but it doesn't feel as bouncy or as alive as a lot of the other shoes out there. For me, it just feels like a nice shoe. That's really light that I could just fall under rhythm. There's a lot of it, you know? So there's still plenty of cushioning when you're running. It's just, it's the foam itself is a little bit flat when I try to push it. But with that said, if I'm just going running easy shuffling miles, they did an excellent job with this shoe. And it's kind of a nice stable neutral profile and they've got a nice wide accommodating fit. Like it checks a lot of good boxes and especially at the price point, it's like 150. So it's a solid, solid shoe. So that's my number four, the tier Maverick version one. - I like the shoe a lot. - Me too, yeah. It would have been in my top five if the volume and the toe box was better. - Yeah, when I felt with the toe box volume, I felt like the shape of the toe box was like made me think topo. It was just a little bit lower volume than a topo, but the shaping was there. And I also think it was a function. The only issue I had with that shoe, well, I think the toe spring was one for me that was bothersome. For the second thing, the upper was nice, but I think almost too plasticky. So it didn't have some of the accommodation to it. I think if they just refined that upper just a little bit and opened it up again, just nominally, I think that shoe vaults into a different category for me in terms of how much I would use it. - I think too, like when I look at it from a specification standpoint, 'cause I didn't really say that. It's like what, 44 in the heel? So super high up, it's sub eight ounces. So it's really light. There's really only one other shoe on the market right now that I can think of that competes with that from a spec standpoint. So they did a good job there, but I agree. The upper could probably be a little bit more comfortable. Like, it's a great first shoe though from like a non-running company. They did a really good job. - They did have some previous-- - Yeah, they had a valkyrie, right? - It just wasn't, yeah, they did a valkyrie, but I think this is like the first clear indication going, whoa, okay, you guys have done something different. Where I feel like the valkyrie was like, okay, this kind of, I couldn't, I sent that to you, David, right? - Yeah, it was so much fun. - I bought a pair and it was too short and when I did put on it felt like basically an ordorfin pro original, but then the transition to the shoe they have now is like, whoa, this is really good. You guys are serious, this is awesome. - Yeah. - Andrew, what do you got? - All right, you guys are probably gonna laugh 'cause you guys thought my similar choice last year. Was this your prize? But my choice is the Hocus Yellow X1 Supra. - That's a surprise though. - Well, I guess the one last year was more of a surprise because this, the geometry of this, she was like the opposite of version one. And I liked both of them, but I definitely like this one better. If it weren't for another shoe that I'll talk about later, this would be my favorite like longer than one mile distance racing shoe of the year. I love the super extreme heel battle here. I really love this decoupled heel with the cut out immediately. It just, it helps me so much in actually transitioning to the media aspect of my forefoot when I push off. The shoe feels just so comfortable and natural for me. I actually have a hundred miles on this shoe because I've used it for a lot of workouts when actually my like calves have been irritated from running in other shoes that put me too far laterally. These are like my treatment for getting over that. So they're bouncy, they're lightweight, they're fun to run in. You can see how dirty they are. That's because one of my workouts in them at the beginning of the year was in like two inches of snow 'cause where I went to do my intervals wasn't plowed yet. And they did awesome even in that very good grip from all that rubber coverage. And I actually think that the cut out actually gave me more grip in the snow, which is ridiculous, but probably true. (laughing) So yeah, if I'll talk about the other racing shoe later, but if I had a 5K, 10K, half marathon, I would race it in the shoe if it weren't for the shoe I will talk about shortly. That's great. - That's a great good job, okay. - I also felt a lot of reminiscence of the Wave Rebellion Pro III in the CLX. Like I remember putting that shoe on distinctly and being like, oh, this is an Android shoe. Like immediately when I started running and it reminded me of what I was doing. - I mean, it's got that heel bevel. But it's not as like ridiculously tall as Wave Rebellion Pro III, which I liked, but in my head I was like, I don't trust the stack height of the shoe enough to ever consider racing in it. Like it just, it doesn't feel right to try and like do a maximal effort in. But I enjoyed testing it. But this shoe, you know, it's just a normal high stack. What is it? - 40 year under, where are that athletics legal? - 46. Well, it's technically 46, 39, but depending on the size they measure, it's world athletics legal. So yeah, I've really enjoyed running in it. It's still got lots of life left. You can see, you know, I've scuffed up the exposed midsole there, but for Super shoe to have 100 miles on that, that's looking pretty good. So that's great. Matt, you got beef with this 100 mile - Yeah, yeah. - You're using a 100 mile situation. - He wants a 100 mile review. - It's a 100 mile review. - Yeah, he wants a 100 mile review. I know immediately. - Okay. - So that people can give me a hard time about it. - He loves it. - Yeah, so you have just about 100 mile reviews. (laughing) - Now that I'm passionate about them and no one watches them and I'm like, "Oh, man, so maybe they'll watch yours." I don't know. - I'll just give like a more random number, like 150 kilometers or something. (laughing) I've already got that 200 kilometers. I'll do a 200 kilometer review and then we'll see if people give me a hard time. (laughing) - They always want Andrew reviews, by the way. - I mean, they always want things in the metric system. So that's fair. - That's true. - I'll give the people what they want then. - Yeah, freedom units. - The more Andrea, the better. - Those are funny comments. - Yeah. - Well, let's go down to number three. We have three left. Let's have David go first this time. What's your third favorite shoe of the year? - Yeah, so this one was already talked about as well. And I'm just gonna preface this with a lot of the things that I was saying with the Nike Vomero premium. It's basically that, but like toned down in a more manageable package for me. And that's gonna be the Nike Vomero Plus. I like that more 45-ish stack height. The 55 is just a lot of shoe. I have it right next to me. So I'll just grab it so I can show them side to side. But like-- - I got you dude. - Like this thing is so much. And then it's like such a wide platform underfoot. And it's a good thing, right? Like they did a great job of making, this is Vomero premium, that they made it not unstable, which would be a massive challenge for this shoe with how much Zoom X and the Air Zoom units. Like it runs neutral, it runs decently stable for what it is. So I give them a lot of credit for that. But kind of like what Andrea was saying, it was almost like a little too bouncy for me. Like I can appreciate what they're doing. But my stride like wanted to open up, but then the way to the shoe like made me fall, like just put my foot back down. And so like I could feel like a short cyclical kind of like shuffling type of stride. And that's where it felt best at for me. But the weight was still sensitive. The Vomero Plus, I can still shuffle and feel nice and still feel plush and have good traction and trust the shoe. But I don't get that fatigue in my hips that I did get in the Vomero premium. And that was something that I did notice. My feet and my calves felt great, but I could literally feel my legs dragging the shoe around a little bit when I went for longer efforts.
And I just got to run slower man. And maybe that's it, but I was run pretty slow for me. Like I'm that's yeah, I was running like eight minutes miles like. But yeah, so Vomero plus big kudos to them on that full zoom X, mid-soul tall side walls, stable neutral, all that good stuff. And the upper itself too does feel premium. It's a nice mesh material holds the foot well, has decent four foot volume. It kind of checks all the boxes, honestly. And I like it a lot. It's more than that like low 10 ounce range, you know, in the sample size. And I like it. I think it's a good, good shoe. So yeah, that's number three. I got my number three, which is the new balance rebel V five. Not as price. This shoe just felt great for daily mileage, easy runs. This is a shoe. If you look at its like history and the lineage, it went from kind of the performance trainer, I think, settling down into this sort of just daily trainer realm. It is still light. Like it's written the seven and a half ounce realm. And that's one of the things that I liked about it from an easy running standpoint. It has some flexibility in the four foot. So you're going to get some of that motion, but it has a little bit of a rocker platform to a livelier foam. But my favorite thing about this shoe is the fit. Like it had the perfect tongue like cushioning for me where it has just a little bit, but not a lot. And so it has the flat laces fits really well. Locks in great. I can do a little bit of everything in this shoe. It just hasn't gotten old. So I put this one in there for my number three. And it comes in at 140 bucks again. So maybe I'm looking at this whole value thing as well for me this year. Yeah. And actually that's good that you brought that up because Vomero Plus is what 180. I think Rita. Yeah. So compared to the other premium shoes, everything's like 200 plus these days. And I feel like at 180, that is a magnificent price point for that shoe, specifically for how much Zoom X, the rocker durability, all that stuff. So that's another thing looking at when I was looking at that earlier. That's great. Matt, what were you going to say? I was going to say I 100% agree with you in like the transition of that shoe being rich, lineage, a more of a performance shoe to now being that kind of just like ironically higher stack, you know, light training shoe. Yeah. I haven't gotten to get more miles in it because of my killiest thing. But when I was getting miles, I found that it struggled doing faster efforts for me. It was just like a little uptempo stuff or easy runs is really where it's shine, but trying to run fast in that shoe. I don't know if the foam just doesn't compress and rebound like quick enough, but it just didn't feel right. But still a great comfortable shoe and understand why it's in your top five. Yeah. It just missed an honorable mention from me. Cool. Makes me feel good knowing that we agree on something almost kind of agree. Andrew, what do you got for your number three? All right. Taking this shoe kind of feels like cheating, but it is one of my favorite shoes. It's just that it's the same. Let's go. That's not the, yeah, it's different. I mean, yeah, attacking it. So this is topo cyclone three literally the only thing that is different from cyclone two, which is like my favorite performance trainer ever is they changed the uppercut lately. They added a row of eyelets, which didn't really, isn't really all that noticeable to me. And supposedly they changed the upper because people were ripping it. I've had three pairs of cyclone twos that I've put at least 250 miles on. I haven't ripped any of those uppers. So I don't know, but if people like this upper better, great. But cyclone three and cyclone two are just the best. I use them for track workouts, threshold workouts, anything. I think the longest run I've done in cyclone two was like 16 miles. It's light. How light is this shoe? Five point five ounces for women's eight six point nine ounces for men's nine stacks 28 23 five mill drop. It's just it is the best performance trainer that I've run in since. What shoe do I like better? The original canvarra or the shoe. That is a good question. This shoe because the fit is better. Better toe box. Love it. But love it. Please do not change the shoe in version four topo. Just keep it the same. It's perfect. The way it is. Writing that review was very difficult. I'm like, Oh, what different like they change some like overlay. Oh, man, like what am I right for this? It's great. But when you were when you were talking about your other toe bow shoe, I almost was going to have you compare it to the cyclone. So I'm glad I didn't because because now you got to talk about both of them. All right. Well, do you want a comparison? I think so. Because there's some similar overlap that you talked about for what you like about them. So. So fly light is a little lower volume in the toe box, which you can probably see here with the similar. I would say fly light is a little snugger in the midfoot to then cyclone two or three. But the main difference is how flexible it is. So even though this is a higher stack shoe, there is a ton of four foot flexibility in cyclone three. Whereas fly light six like I can bend it. But when running, it's still pretty stiff. So overall, this stiffer platform in combination with a lower overall stack height. So 23 20 versus 28 23. This is a softer shoe and more flexible. This is a firmer shoe lower stack, definitely harsher ride. I actually like this. If I'm doing like strides that like 800 pace, this feels better than this does because it's lower to the ground and firmer. So I'm actually going to experiment with doing more track workouts in this winter and see which one I like better. That's great. When she said do strides at 800 meter pace, I was like, I haven't run 800 in like 10 plus years. We should for next year all do like a race in an absolutely way off distance that we're used to. So I can race anything is basically what you're saying. Yeah. You just got a lot of you just have to run a race. But for us, like me, like the past like the 800 right now is kind of crazy. Like I'm like going out hard for four and surviving for the next lap. Like I can't even, I don't know. It's so great. I do want to I do want to give another shout out to like an ad to the comparison that the fly light is been. Most of the time we do not suggest that you like weight lift or do cross training type activities and running shoes. Running shoes are unless you're talking about walking running shoes are designed for really forward motion. Similar. A lot of them work very well for walking is real. There's not a ton of difference. So let's you're talking about super shoes and stuff like that. But the fly light six, what it does great is because it's lower stack and it's got the slightly wider platform. It does great for lateral motion or for lifting or things like that. Whereas I would still say the cyclone three is very much still running shoe where I can walk all day in the fly light six. Cyclone three is just a little bit soft for that. If you like a soft shoe and you want an atomic, it would make total sense. But like trying to lift in it or trying to do any kind of other cross training activities. It doesn't work in the cyclone three. The cycle three is a running shoe. And so that the fly light six has been impressive with its versatility. I have a comment and of course the tangent about that. So yeah, when I got this, I was like, oh, this will probably be a good lifting. She would, but I was already lifting in the topo ST five, which is even lower stack. Yeah, zero drop, but more flexible. And then I started doing single leg RDLs and I kept like losing my balance. And I'm like, what the heck? Like this is so stupid. So I took the shoes off and I was fine. And I realized it's because of like the pretty significant art support that topo puts in all their shoes. That's. So now I wear zero HFS to use when I'm doing like single leg RDLs and stuff like that. So good. No problem. Yeah. Yeah. The HFS to is definitely my favorite shoe. You know, I were lifting shoes for like squats and cleans and stuff, but for everything else, the HFS to was awesome. And like really good grip if you're doing like box jumps or lateral stuff. So shout out to zero. I actually, I wish I would have brought some I wear zero pretty much every day. I wear the scrambler like all the time at work. HFS I use for lifting. I have one of their like boot type shoes and I have their basketball shoe and I use it for pickle ball. I think that they're developing a court shoe right now. And then I've also worn their like dress shoes. I just use them for everything. I, I, there are a lot of different kind of completely minimalist shoes out there. I think the fit for zero and the durability for zero has stood up for me. And I can't speak highly enough about them from, from that standpoint. All right. Are we done in number two? We have two left. Yes, Matt. Yeah. Oh, you would go on your number three. Oh, yeah. We do care about you. I do. That's right. And I totally didn't agree. Nathan's just upset that I talked about the temp is three. And now I'm not upset. I'm just going to give a great chance to tell the world like don't enable Matt. It, you know, it gives us that opportunity. Do not enable me. Don't do it. Don't do it.
Matt's gonna get so many boxes from like random places like this year is only available in Indonesia I'll write it. I'll still review it. Yeah, that's the problem I know Oh my gosh that did not take a long yeah, I'll do it For those for those who don't know, I think we've talked about this before I actually have gotten in trouble from companies going like back in the day when it was when before the tariffs and all this kind of stuff Going on and website shutting down it was much easier to order stuff from Japan So used to see like all these really cool shoes that were only available there before the super shoes totally wrecked all of them and they disappeared And I would order stuff and review it So we've had companies go Matt can you please not review things from over there Because then we start getting emails from people asking for it We're like we cannot make a profit bringing this United States just doesn't have a place here So like please stop doing that and so I've been on good behavior But technically I didn't order this so I just it just happened to show up at my doorstep because of some cool cool human being so you know What's your number three? Anyway, so my number three Yeah, my number three is the new balance s c elite version five and so this is one of the few racing shoes that I got in a hundred miles on this year and It's not the fastest shoe, but it's one of the only like super racing shoes I've actually been able to do long runs in most super shoes the the alpha fly being one of the exceptions Although the durability just did not last in that shoe and I barely got 50 miles before the like a chunk of the heel came off during a half Marathon while I was running with Isabella So that was not fun, but I don't normally do long runs in super racing shoes This has been the exception mostly because my wife has been pushing the pace that it's not the fastest shoe Man, is it comfortable the upper is really good. It's got a little wider toe box and weirdly enough despite the narrow midfoot It's actually been stable and that's why I don't usually do long runs in super racing shoes because usually can't handle it This is done fine like getting into that like marathon pace that uptempo thing like it's really comfortable This is really comfortable shoe again not the fastest shoe But it's comfortable. I think a lot of recreational runners are gonna do really well If they want to try a super racing shoe just be aware that does that four foot take some time to break in I think Andrew and I we both have the same experience where man that four foot is super stiff Initially, but then give it a few miles. It'll break in. It's just got this nice transition as long as you're going A half way decent pace and just yeah comfort is second to none I do know a new balance is advertising a like performance racing Job opportunity right now if that's something anybody's interested in So I'm curious to see what happens, but it's still kept the comfort while not being kind of I found version Forward to be a little bit like sluggish and a little bit to just the low drop really didn't work for me Just because of mid-slaught compress. I think this balances this out really nice and just because Hung I think I got like 130 miles on this shoe, but durability. This is the left shoe which it's fine Which is a guy maybe right yeah, David maybe right that it's because I'm landing a little farther forward But I've still ripped there's still wear here, but this piece hasn't come off yet. So Did a great job and I think what you know a little bit over price for what it is But if you get a little discount it's it's a great option a shoe that I keep reaching for and if I had to run a marathon tomorrow This would probably yet because I trust it so it's been great That's great. The rare very comfortable upper in a super shoe Now why don't you keep us rolling in near number two oh All right, this one was completely unexpected But a unbelievably pleasant surprise and my number two is the Salman arrow glide three I really love this shoe another one that I've gotten a hundred miles on Started getting through some of the outsled a little bit, but not too bad this midsole foam I forget what it's it's the energy Evo foam or whatever order that's supposed to be it's great Transition super smooth really light and the like the mid eight ounce range Still a higher stack shoe, but doesn't feel like it. It can do easy runs It's I've done workouts in this shoe. It can do a little everything with a really comfortable upper which are really enough Took a second to break in I think I mentioned this review and people have told me the exact opposite so Comment below if I'm insane or is it just me but it felt short Initially and then it just broke in and it was just this wonderful fitting thing That's been something I've still kept on my feet and just a surprise because the previous versions have been very average They've been like meh like yeah, like yeah, and then this is just like whoa this and I said it forward This is gonna be one of them by top shoes the year and it's still as held up for that and I'm starting to see More people wear it because I think it's well deserved really really really really comfortable shoe really awesome shoe Durability is really good, but just a great midsole heavy very surprising. Have you ran in the gravel version? I have run the gravel and I like that one There is a gravel for that one It makes it the slightly firmer also it does great because a lot of the trails that around me aren't the most aggressive So that does awesome But it firms it up just enough if you need to touch more guidance. Yeah, the gravel version provides that great Andrew you want to go next? Yes All right, so this is the shoe that knocked um CLO x12.0 down a peg for me. This is my favorite longer than a mile or racing shoe of the year The faster night. Oh, yes. Yeah, a lot of people like that. This shoe is awesome I finally got to the race of 5k in August and it was like everything I thought it would be So again the geometry of the shoe just works really well for me I always do well with shoes with like a really severe heel he'll bevel them Really early forefoot rocker He'll completely decoupled from the rest of the shoe I land here. I don't you know this part of the shoe hits the ground but like the pressures here and it just it feels like it's designed for the way I run and the rocker starts Beyond where I land so it doesn't feel like it's like immediately shooting me into pushoff But I've just I did a bunch of workouts in the shoe and you know, I've mostly run track this year So I was bummed that I didn't have a race to test it in but then I finally got to do a 5k at the end of the summer And it's just it's so light. It's under six ounces for women It's under six ounces for men. Yeah, because men exactly six ounces women 5.2 ounces. I mean that's crazy light Um, I would personally Not hesitate to use it up to a half marathon Maybe even a full. I'm just not running those distances right now. So it's really hard to say yes or no But this is hands down my favorite racing shoe longer than a mile for this here Good job, Prima When you look at that shoe I know another shoe you've loved in the past was the first alpha fly In terms of design and feel are there any similarities there? Yeah, I think both of them are really designed like the sweet spot of loading both of those shoes is here Yeah, like the original alpha fly you kind of had that similar The air pods were decoupled from the rear of the shoe right so I could see how people who land on their heels kind of felt like they had to climb over those air pods But I landed right on them and it just felt like you know an explosion every time and it's just slamming me forward I absolutely love the alpha fly one and I have like every PR in that shoe from like half marathon down to 5k um But this shoe is definitely the closest in terms of that feeling Obviously it doesn't have like that air pod feeling. It's definitely more of a rocker driven feeling than like the The loading response you get from pods, but yeah for people who Land at their midfoot and loved alpha fly one. This is probably your best replacement for it. Nice Nice I will say it's one of the more like most aggressive shoes I put on like I love how the midsole feels I just the that medial cut out and I do not agree. I think every single run that I did that shoe my post-hibis Dreaming yeah, that's a pretty good after big gaffer. Yeah, it did just yeah. I appreciate it Just didn't did not work for my mechanics make sense Well my number two is another $140 training shoe This one being the ultra experience flow - I I think that If I were fully healthy This would be like my perfect trainer to get a lot more miles on and As I have talked about too much. I've had that toe thing and just because of some of the flexibility in this shoe I haven't been able to put as much as I would if I would have been completely healthy with it, but I just love the Really natural grounded feel in this shoe. I got a 14-miler in on this one I did a lot of other easy runs It's light enough that you can go a little bit more. It's in the low eight ounce range It's got a four millimeter drop So it allowed ultra to put in a little bit softer of a foam without it feeling like you were dropping into negative drop I felt like trainers from ultra We're kind of falling behind in terms of Kind of modern feel in terms of what other trainers are offering you, but I feel like this one Was there and I just loved it and I it finally had a good true ultra fit where it was wide enough in the toe box It didn't it wasn't constricting anything in kind of that transition between the midfoot and the forefoot I just loved everything about this shoe and I hope to just keep putting miles in it Whenever my foot is in a happy space just because the underfoot feel was great
the lockdown was awesome. Yeah, I can't say enough good about this shoe. So that's my number two, again, $140 and it'll get you a lot of different types of runs and mileage. Good for walking too. Sorry, Matt, I want to go Matt next. I want to say I'm sorry. David. No, David has to go next. Oh, I'm not on first. I'm falling. I'm apparently my brain is dead. So that's okay. Yeah, David. That's what happens. You go next. Johnson wins football games. Everything just kind of goes to most right? I didn't sleep. I was too excited. We actually, so Wisconsin won a football game. It was snowing outside. We all ran. It was dark. Randall Aparon the house and did a cartwheel and came back in. All four, all four of us. It was super fun. I like that. Not because we were actually that excited, but we like, we just tried to have fun with it. So and we did that's what you do every Sunday. Yeah. Well, nice. I will say the ultra experience wild too is also very nice. Not my pick, but I think that it's worth a shout out. How many honorable mentions do I have now at this point without even you get just shout outs is different is you're going to show us different. So this next one and I would have loved to try the fast star fast R three, right? That's what they're on. Yeah. Yeah, I didn't get to try that one this year because I'd love to see how it stacks up with this, but this is the A6 Meta speed edge Tokyo. To me, it's not even close to the racing shoes that I've tried this year. I just love the way like I kind of like having that more stable rear foot and then that just really explosive four foot from a racing shoe standpoint. This thing just really flies and it lines up with my mechanics well like the rocker isn't super crazy. It's spooned out a little bit up front, but you get just a massive bounce from that like four foot of the flight foam leap that ATP that they have there and then you have the flight from turbo plus plus right on the heel, but that like heel wedge it just feels nice and structured and then I just like drop into this really bouncy and explosive four foot and I legitimately feel like I could race in that shoe from my ultramarathon. Like it's one of those shoes where it's just insanely versatile at what it does and I mean, I've done well with the A6 Meta speed edge series in general over the years, but yeah, this one really knocked it out of the park. Like this is one of those things like that four foot just so lively, especially with that structured heel that it's like I got both in that shoe, which I don't usually get in a super shoe. So I could see what Cline is saying about the upper, you know, the upper is definitely it's a thinner mesh. It is a racing shoe. The tongue is not gusseted and it can kind of float around a little bit. So you do have to place it a little bit when you are donning the shoe, but once you got it on there, boom, it doesn't go anywhere once it's on. I had no issues with it slipping or anything. It's just you kind of have to position it a little bit once they're on. I definitely disagree with that. I really like that. Except if I'm turning or like, in Connecticut, we don't have a lot of sidewalk. So it's a lot of like you're on the sidewalk, then you're on the grass. Anytime I end up on the grass and like the surface is even slightly uneven, my foot just slides off the platform and it doesn't matter how I tie the laces, it's just not stable for me. So even though I love how the shoe rides when I run in a straight line on pavement, I would never race in it because of that. That's one of the challenges. There's guys who'll stay below grass. Oh yeah. Okay. Yeah. It's absolutely how they it's just how the upper fits my foot. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. It's how you interact with that. Yeah. Yeah. The upper on the fast R3 does hold you well. I think one of the things that how they got and the edge Tokyo is lighter than the fast R3, but I think there are consequences of as shoes started getting as they started getting lighter later. We're going to things get more aggressive less less lockdown because there's sacrifices have to be able to be made to get to that light. And I think the upper is definitely one of the things where make sure you got good pair of socks and hopefully you can lock it down to the straight line, but yeah, I agree. I also think part of it for me is the midsole for me feels very dense like there's no like difference in how it feels from where I land to where I push off. So it doesn't feel like the midsole really accommodates when I'm on slightly uneven terrain either like it feels like I've just got this yeah, it feels like I've got like a brick under my foot, but like no ability to accommodate. And then because that upper is looser, it just my foot is what moves instead of like the midsole accommodating to the surface. Yeah. And like that's exactly how I that's how I felt the first like 30 miles and then it started to change and most aggressively changed the last probably 20 to 30. Interesting. Maybe I should do a real straight line running in that shape. Well, I could see it too. The ATPU platform leap is like really softening compliant and this is rather rigid in the heel. So if you're not if you're not like using that, I can totally see like just landing with more compliance and then just kind of like slipping off the thing versus like having the structure part of it and then dropping into it. So I can see how you feel that way. Talking about the tongue made me think of another shoe that did not make my list, but would have if I could have gotten the tongue to stay. And it was that Audi Zero EVO SL. I really like the foam. I bet that shoes $140. How much does that shoe cost? No, it's 150. Yes, it's a little bit more expensive, but another one of those trainers that was just so solid, but for me, it crinkled every time and I even tried different lacing. I should have put new laces on it. I could still do that. But it would crinkle down and then I got bruises on the top of my foot. So that was a 24. Technically a 2024, 24 or so. Yeah, whatever. But and it wasn't at the end of 2024. It was and I think a lot of people are putting it on their 2025 lists and a lot of people have been like upset that we didn't include it on top five lists. Right. It's year. So it's fine. Yeah, it's fine. We bet you did. Yeah. All right. We are at number one, our top favorite shoe from 2025. David, do you want to kick us off? Yeah, I might throw a curveball at you'll before we get into number one. Do you guys have any like favorite apparel pieces you guys want to shout out with our best of episode from this year, from this year? So why don't you give us your number one shoe and then we'll circle back to the apparel when we have some time to think about it. I don't have to listen to you talk. We can think about other things. Makes sense. Just kidding. If I'm giving apparel shout outs first, I think of two things specifically this year. Three. But one, the 2XU five-inch shorts that we got so good. So good. Like so good. It might be like pockets for pickleball too. Yeah. They better be good for like 100-per-a-pollars or shorts. Another company where if you told me at the beginning of the year I'd be like raving about a 2XU piece of apparel, I'd be like, "Oh yeah, they make some stuff but like I don't know if they're like that great." Those shorts are amazing. Like they're right up there with like the five-inch say-sky shorts that I would wear you know in the previous years and they are cheaper too. I think they're like right around 45 or 50 for a pair. So amazing for the value. The other one would be the A6 Meta Run shirt. So that's kind of like the it's kind of the holy one you know where it's very perforated and it breaks super well. Set apart. Yeah. And it's kind of like more their performance E1 but very very solid shirt. You can just sweat buckets in it and it's great. The other one was that the on performance tier that the Meta Run. Oh dude. If I'm doing like a hard workout and I'm going to be sweating a bunch I might go Meta Run like a marathon simulation type of workout like on a long run day but for just daily training I might go on performance T. I think the mesh of it is just a little bit it sits a little bit nicer on the skin. Yeah that's a good question. They're both really good but performance T doesn't make the cut because that's not from this year you know. But the other one is the CLEDLYT daily T. Just yeah super nice just a super nice mesh sits on the skin really well very comfortable solid easy running day shoe. Oh my gosh. Sure. Sure. Yeah, sure. But anyways we'll get into the number one shoe of the year for me and that at this point. Actually but Matt, wait, we were now that we've had a little bit of time I'm ready to talk apparel. We just not that I go for it. Yeah. So I'll go I'll go a second. I think I am definitely tilting my mind towards winter so I'm thinking more about the stuff that I have that I'm going to be using soon and the one that is sticking out that I know I'm just going to use a ton this winter is the new base layer from rabbit. It's called like one layer layer one. I still haven't nailed down exactly what it's called but it's slightly waffled so it's got a little bit of texture to it but I have both just the long sleeve and the quarters it and they just they're great. I've been using them for like the third it's been in the thirties and the upper twenties. It's been great for that. It's going to be nice as a layer underneath a lot of other stuff interacts really well with my skin like note irritation fits really great not too snug like I've had some base layers like the one from tracksmith.
from year or two ago, it's just too snug and it kind of just feels restrictive, but this is just loose enough. So I would say that's the one that I wanted to give a shout out for this year. Also, I love those shorts. Yeah, the two XQ shorts. They're so good. I have two pairs of them, and I use them all the time. Matt or Andrea, you got something? Matt, you go. I'm still thinking. I mean, mine's boring, but it's the ongoing rabbit high country. There was shorter long sleeve. I found more of them. They are going. They're great. They're very good. Two of my students for Halloween dressed up as me, so they had like the cold, stretchy pants and then what looked like. They didn't actually have the rabbit high country, but they just chose plaid. So as a gift, I got each one of them a high country short sleeve shirt. And the first one came in because I had to do a little extra looking for an XL. But the first individual Daniel was like, Oh, this is really nice. I see where you hear this all the time. Like, yeah, see, I will give a shout out for rabbit as well. Their UPF polos are pretty nice. For those that don't know, I will run in polo sometimes just cuts. They would say polo guy. Yeah, yeah, performance polos are my jam. So those are also super nice. Shout out. Andrew, you got something. Yeah, and most of my favorite like summer stuff is not from this year. Um, on makes a really good like race crop that I have three different colors of. But it's definitely not a 2025. So I've got to say one of the base layers that rabbit sent me for winter is my favorite, but not the one that Nathan mentioned. I think this one is just the easy tea long sleeve. Oh, yeah, it's really so good. But this year's material is the best that it's been. The fit is really nice. They sent me like this really pretty light blue color. I've run in it several times already because winter is kind of here. And like it's perfect for like that like 30 to 40 degree, you know, easy run type temperature. Um, so I like that. They also sent me some shorts. I don't know what they're called, but they're they're not spandex. They're like loose fitting like split shorts. But what's awesome about them is they actually have a zippered pocket in the back and pockets in the front, which is a really unusual for non spandex shorts. So I mainly run in spandex shorts, but these are actually I like them because of the pockets and they don't like like the looser shorts always end up chafing me. And these are fine. So I've really enjoyed getting some miles. Is that part of the trail lineup? Does it have like the little mountain on the road? Oh, it might be because they have, you know, the smashams. Uh, and then there's also the fuel and fly. But that's the road one. Oh, I think it's the fuel and fly. They're really short. Yeah, I have like the inseams probably like two inches. Yeah, because the fuel and flies are nice. I have the five inch for those as well and three inches for those. Yeah. Cool. That's our apparel pieces, right? So we can go to number one. Yes, that is. All right. Number one's I have to throw at least one curveball in there. Um, so my shoe of the year hasn't been talked about yet. Uh, across any of us, I really hope it's not number one for all four of us. That would be very. I know. I have one that hasn't been talked about either. So, um, that's going to be the A6 Mega Blast. Um, yeah. I've got mine too. Pretty much everything that I said about the tier Maverick version one. It's that and then a little better, you know, and so it's, you know, super high stack. The foam, like they're calling it flight foam, turbo squared. It's basically a, a more training friendly ATPU. That's a little bit more dense than the flight foam leap. But for being at 45 millimeters of stack, still being just under eight ounces in men's size nine is absurd. Yeah. And I think the quality of the foam and the durability of the foam is really good. The rocket profile is very solid and durability wise, I haven't barely put a dent in this thing. So not that I have like a trotcious miles in it, but I have enough to at least like warrant somewhere. You know, I have some scuff marks, but other than that, like it's been holding up really well. The only thing on this one for those that are sensitive to like four foot, like with it's not the widest, you know, and the volume's a little bit lower. Um, for me, I'm not as sensitive to that. So I, it worked really well for me, you know, and I'm actually happy we chose top five shoes and not like lightweight trainer, daily trainer racing shoes categorically, because I was like, I remember I went on a long run a few weeks ago, and I was just like, I think it's just trainer of the year for me. Like, you know, lightweight heavy doesn't matter. Like I think this shoe is just very rhythmic and I like running easy in it. And I feel like you can pick up the pace a little bit. It's not really a shoe I choose to go fast, fast in, but like if I was to with like marathon type work, you probably could, um, but I just like it for shuffling, you know, and it's like some of the stuff I said about the Vomero Plus also applies. I just like running easy and shuffling and the shoe is like two ounces lighter more than that just a little bit. So, um, yeah, the mega blast is my shoe of the year. I'll just piggyback off of it. I agree with everything. David said, the fit is the one thing that if they are going to change something, I hope they just open it up a little bit in the toe box, but for me, it was not problematic. It's just I think that there's a lot of shoes that have been marketed towards like, hey, you don't want a super shoe, but you want to like run a marathon in a super like shoe. And they didn't even really market that this way. I don't think like that intentionally, but I think this one actually fits the build the most. I think it's the most fun shoe to run in. That is lightweight. Has that response to it, but it can just do everything. So I'm excited to just keep pounding miles on this thing and seeing how much it stacks up to the durability of like the super blast because the super blast lasts forever. I think there's a good chance this does too. And it's just a little bit faster. This would be the shoe that I would take to go race in right now if I was doing a longer distance thing. It's just super fun. It's super fun to run in. I again, besides the little bit of potentially opening up the toe box. I don't have anything to add to it because I'd just really liked it. Had a lot of fun in it. I also agree about the if I was his run a marathon right now, that's probably what I would opt for assuming I don't run too fast and get to qualify. We haven't talking about I haven't been running quite as much this year, but there was has been a part of me that would like to maybe run 26.2 before the end of the year. Not necessarily racing just running. So if anyone wants to put in the comments, what I should run in a six mega blast is definitely on the options there that I was thinking immediately that like, oh, I can just go run a marathon in this. For sure. Yeah. I will say that was going to be one of my top shoes the year I have 160 miles on my pair. The upper is getting worth the sole. The outsole is great. There's nowhere on it for me. I haven't torn the outsole off. It's great. The midsole holds it really well. That upper just it stinks. I'm sorry. It's just it crinkles. It doesn't fit. It ended it back me up. I think it stinks. Well, I received that shoe, but I will not be running in it because the forefoot is too narrow for me. Yeah. So just like I can handle it. It was a great long run shoe. Just like as it's broken in that the upper kind of just isn't it kind of got more more uncomfortable. So I think that for a lot of people like it's got kind of that racing style fit where like when you choose a racing shoe, this being a very clear exception to this rule. Sometimes the uppers aren't the most comfortable and you're kind of looking for that performance. You're looking for that light-raid stuff. You're going to run a race in it, but you're not going to do all your training. I feel like that makes sense and I think it's a great shoe for a lot of people going, "Hey, maybe you shouldn't be considering a super racing shoe just either because skill-level wise or biomechanically, it's probably not the best for me. Get actually help you finish the race or a shoe that you can use for training and get really used to it." It can handle a variety of paces, but just me and that upper, yeah, I'm kind of, I've got lots of miles on it, but it's just not my favorite. I do feel like the upper that is in the sonic blast and the upper mega blast could have probably been inverted. You got a lot of forfeit volume in the sonic blasts, a little bit more width like that could have done really, really well on the mega blast. But I actually do like the mega blast upper for me. I don't have any issues with it, but I can see where people have issues with it. Yeah. Andrew, what's your number one? All right. Thank you, Nike, for making a super shoe for mile road races. I'm happy this is getting talked about. Yeah. Yeah. Rich. Great shoe. Yeah. Absolutely. Ways 4.5 ounces for a men's nine. What is the shoe? The streak fly too. Great. Yeah. Maybe you said that, and maybe I said, well, again, some people are not being. So, you know, I've been running me in the mile this year, and there are a lot of road miles in Connecticut for whatever reason. And I did both of that two of them in streak fly too. And it's just it's perfect for it. It's low stack. What is the stack? Hey, 26, 22, 24 mill drop. It feels like a track spike that doesn't have spikes. I'm going to run a track mile in a couple weeks. And since I haven't really fully acclimated spikes for the fall, I'm going to race it in these because they're great. I love them for the road. They perform great on the track. You can see the outsole looks like the color of my local track.
track. They're light, they're responsive, you can feel the ground. They're not flexible at all in the forefoot, which is what you want for faster running. I have zero complaints about this shoe. The fit is comfortable. You can see how squared off the toe boxes. It's not particularly wide, but because it doesn't taper, it works really well for me. It's easy to lock down. Please don't change the shoe. I'm begging Nike and Topo to just stop R&D on a couple of hair cutters. I love it. I will also give a shout out to that shoe. Again, my Killy's cut this short a little bit, but it's also actually a really great option. I feel like for smooth cross-country horses. Obviously, you've got heavy grass, you should be using spikes if you can handle it. For your master's runner or those that maybe can't handle spikes, or if the course is more dirt or bark dust or bark chips, it does phenomenal and handles really well. The forefoot is great. It's not for very aggressive terrain, but I think for a lot of high schoolers, in my opinion, the new vapor fly, the change in the outsole, which is not as durable and not as grippy anymore. Version three, even notes unstable. A lot of people used it because it actually had some nubs and could hold on some dirt. The version four cannot or isn't a great option for that. I think that's where the streetfly two really took over and it's obviously much lighter in. Give a shout out for me. A lot of people would raise in the street LT for cross-country and I feel like it basically just takes that and levels that up. It brought it back. That's great. All right, the final shoe mat. You get to round us out. What is your number one? Everybody probably knows what it is. Let's see if I can pronounce it correctly. My shoe of the year by far is the A6 Cayano. May or may not have spent like 30 minutes practicing that. I have over 200 miles in my pair. The outsole's gotten toasted a little bit. I took off the lateral. I'm going to keep talking while they laugh at me. It's just they redid this so well. I feel like 30 and 31 and some really cool people on YouTube have also commented this that just felt like things really changed and it wasn't that it was bad. It just didn't have the same length that a lot of the other models had. The heel transition wasn't great and got that heel flare. They the sight lower drop without being too low drop. The new bevel works really, really well and it's very smooth. I feel like it's the first time I've really felt the 40 guidance where it was such a great shoe. Yes, it's not a light shoe. It's a little bit heavier but man, long runs, easy runs. This is a reason why I've over 200 miles on the shoe. The fit is definitely snug and for the health care workers out there asking hey, does this shoe do okay for long day standing on feet? I have taken it. I have done that quite a bit. As I've got more miles under the upper half stretched out, initially it does fit snug. You might want to consider the wide version if you're doing all day wear. But for running, it adapts really quickly. It's really nice and secure, super comfortable, great transition and just great for those that have a variety of any kind of stability needs. Don't do it if you have lateral stability needs because the 40 guidance will bounce you out laterally. So it's really not going to be that like stable neutral or that kind of guided shoe. It's very much medial stability but it's just so comfortable with moving away from medial posts. I think the first time of the three versions where they've really had this for you guys and work where again, it's not a farmer bit of material. It's actually more responsive where you land and it kind of helps you move through pronation and it bounces you out of it is so comfortable. Just like my go to training shoe. It's really great. I need to get a new pair because this outsole probably is not good for me to be still running in but it still feels fine in the foot. Midsole holds up super well, has not like degradated very much and it still feels very similar and just yeah, they did a great job with this shoe. It's one of the rare times that I know some people are going to be a little bit troubled by the lower drop but it really is a move forwards in the majority of ways which is dangerous with shoes that are very, very popular because companies can like if you've got something like this, it's like world renowned and world tons of people wear it. It can really break off loyalist but for me it's just better in pretty much every single way. So that is my top shoe. I would say if we were doing things categorically that was my stability shoe of the year as well. It's nice to see somebody put some effort and stability shoes because it really, and I'm not trying to insult other companies, it just feels like stability models have just gone back to not getting a ton of attention and then some of the ones out there have just kind of moved more into the mild guidance. And just, you know, we've talked about the temp as three for example, like we don't have the versatility or like we've lost a lot of the light stability models this year like the Hyperion GTS series has gone. There's some other ones that have kind of been discontinued so it's really nice to have something to go, yep, we're actually moving forward and this is really good. So good job basics on that. Fantastic. - Sorry, not to make this go longer but another stability shoe massive shot out. I just don't do as well with the stability shoes so they just don't make my list but I think the top athletic aura was also an excellent stability shoe this year and I feel like it does deserve a mention here. - Yep. That is my go-to walking shoe. If you ask any of my students that's been the shoe that's been on my feet for the last several months and it's excellent shoe. - Again, a little like the transition I think from a midsole standpoint isn't quite the best for running but still just an excellent standing walking shoe like that's a shoe like if you need some mild stability is also a really really good one for healthcare workers standing on their feet for long times or anybody because it's so comfortable but yeah agree. - And you got fantastic. - Yeah. - Well this is always fun. Thank you all for taking time to all meet together. Talk about our favorite shoes from the year. We know that there are probably people like why didn't X shoe make the list please interact with us on that you can comment if you're watching on YouTube and just let us know what your favorite shoes are from this year and why they should make the list or what sort of people may benefit from them because as we said there is not a best shoe. It's finding the right shoe to fit your preferences, your goals with running and your mechanics and all of that kind of stuff and a lot of that comes with trial and error and figuring out what the right thing is for you. So thank you again this is always super fun to talk about and you can reach out to us at
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