For me, I have a 5 shoe rotation and this one found its way as the recovery shoe, which it does a pretty good job at. It really looks after your legs when they’re sore. The upper, especially near the toe box, hugs the foot really well (a bit too well at first) and will conform to your foot nicely. The grip is great, even in rainy weather and it disguises its weight with a very nicely placed rocker. I’m underplaying how good it is at all of these things. *Important* this shoe has a break in period of ~30 miles. Do not be so quick to disregard this shoe as “not soft”: just keep running in it and it will get soft and comfortable. This shoe is not a “do it all shoe,” this is a strictly recovery shoe and meant for slower paces. If you’re looking for a do it all shoe, look at the asics novablast 5 or the newbalance rebel v5 (i reccomend the novablast if you want a faster shoe and rebel for more max stack). My dislikes? Well for starters, the 4mm drop. I would have really liked it to be 6/8 mm, that way the shoe would give a more secure forefoot lockdown. (The following applies to the break in period of this shoe, 0-30 miles) Since I am a forefoot striker. I found the bottom of the shoe to rub a lot on my sock, which caused it to heat up a lot and me having to take it off during some of my runs. It does break in, however. In summary, this is my scenario of the ideal recovery shoe; it’s comfortable and gets squishier the more you run in it. I couldn’t have chosen a better recovery shoe, as this shoe is extremely inefficient to run fast in, which kind of forces those recovery days when you put it on. Probably the main competitor to this shoe is the asics gel nimbus, but I would choose this shoe for its softness and comfort over time. The gel nimbus is a tad faster and a bit more comfortable on foot, but it doesn’t provide as much cushion as you would think. I would recommend the more V5 to anyone looking for a durable recovery shoe. Again, the more you run in this shoe, the better it gets, and I hope you have as much fun as I did with it. *not sponsored, bought with my own money*
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