High Five By 55

After having the good luck to grab a pair of these Saucony Endorphin Elite 2s from the tiny drop in June and sitting on these for nearly six months, I finally got to use them in a marathon on Saturday. And they are sublime, my absolute favorite shoe for the marathon so far. By a wide margin. Yes, exceptionally soft. And also very fast and efficient at any pace I've tried. The fit is very similar to the Saucony Endorphin Elite 1, which is mostly generous yet well held. The toe box is a bit less spacious than the 1, but only by the most marginal amount. Other than that, fit and hold are exceptional both through the midfoot and the heel. I came out of my marathon without a hint of a hot spot or blister or black toenail. My toes aren't even sore. The ride is weirdly forgiving. Run with pace, and it offers pace back. Run easier, and it rolls along efficiently and protectively. Get up on your toes, and you fly. Tire a bit and fall back on the heels, you still fly. Explosive, yet easy...

I'm a running shoe geek. I love running shoes. I love reading running shoe reviews. I love trying different shoes. It's just a really enjoyable side habit to the overall running habit. I also own way, way, way too many running shoes. That said, I am absolutely adamant about never letting a shoe go to waste. Even if I don't enjoy running in it much, I'll do just about anything to squeeze at least 300 miles out of them. (There have been two exceptions to this, but just two, and both because they would literally leave my feet a bloody mess.) Right now, I'm testing three different carbon plated marathon racers for CIM: the Nike Alphafly 2, the Saucony Endorphin Elite, and the adidas Adios Pro 3. I have enjoyed running in all three and I'm torn about which shoe to use. Soon, I'll take each out for a Sunday long run when I'll be running some target marathon pace, then I'll decide which felt best for the 35 kilometers. That's it. No targeted testing to ...