Well obviously the country that focuses on Ekiden in school while Americans are doing the mile, is going to have more depth. The guys are training marathon volume while young enough to have to worry a lot less about injury and it’s also a numbers game, if you have that many trying long distance of course you’re gonna have more 2:06-2:08 guys, we don’t even see the casualties that break down and end up injured as they’re disposable, like milers in the NCAA, either way the pointy end remains the same.
Historically the best shoes of all time helped revolutionize the sport.
The Onitsuka Tiger Corsair was introduced in the late 1960's and was one of (if not the) first shoe to have a layer of cushioning foam as part of the midsole. The foam allowed distance runners to train more, further and farther with less fatigue. The foam also provided additional protection from rocks and other things. The shoes were relatively inexpensive especially considering how durable they were (runners regularly got over 1000 miles out of them).
Soon after came the Onitsuka Tiger Marathon, the first shoe with a nylon upper. Prior to that running shoes had canvas or leather uppers. Nylon made the shoes much lighter, dried more quickly, and allowed shoes to be more easily made in different colors. Nylon remained flexible for longer, in all conditions and was resistant to rot,
Onitsuka Tiger soon released a shoe (can't remember the name) that combined both a foam midsole with a nylon upper.
If you were a distance runner used to putting in the miles wearing stiff, heavy and hard shoes, you will always remember your first running shoes with a foam midsole and nylon upper as the best.
Believe it or not, I still have 2 pairs of those. I can upload the pictures once I get home and find them in my garage.
Very cool. That shoe was super light, great traction, a really durable outsole, nice ground feel, very comfortable. Many incredible performances run in them by Grete Waitz, Craig Virgin, and many others.
A Nike Obori or Boston mid 1970's that Nike waffled for me as grew in Exeter, NH and as a high schooler ran with all the original folks there. Did everything from XC to road races in them
More recently the OG Vaporfly 4% Baby Blue (not firmer stiffer FK versions that immediately folllowed). Ran so much faster than in any previous shoe all distances.
More recently plateless trail shoes with top notch next gen foams such as Norda 005, Mount to Coast H1
Historically the best shoes of all time helped revolutionize the sport.
The Onitsuka Tiger Corsair was introduced in the late 1960's and was one of (if not the) first shoe to have a layer of cushioning foam as part of the midsole. The foam allowed distance runners to train more, further and farther with less fatigue. The foam also provided additional protection from rocks and other things. The shoes were relatively inexpensive especially considering how durable they were (runners regularly got over 1000 miles out of them).
Soon after came the Onitsuka Tiger Marathon, the first shoe with a nylon upper. Prior to that running shoes had canvas or leather uppers. Nylon made the shoes much lighter, dried more quickly, and allowed shoes to be more easily made in different colors. Nylon remained flexible for longer, in all conditions and was resistant to rot,
Onitsuka Tiger soon released a shoe (can't remember the name) that combined both a foam midsole with a nylon upper.
If you were a distance runner used to putting in the miles wearing stiff, heavy and hard shoes, you will always remember your first running shoes with a foam midsole and nylon upper as the best.
I want to echo the Tiger Marathon. The difference between the previous leather uppers -- which always required breaking in, were terrible once wet, and usually ended up cracking in places -- and the nylon uppers was like magic. I've probably had better shoes since these, but I never had shoes that were SO much better than anything before.
late college, I used to do all my running in the Asics Piranha SP3. I think they stopped making them in ~2016. Super light, comfortable, and the last of a dying breed of racing flats that didn't come in a neon colorway. These were the best racing/workout flat I ever used to this day.
Would like to hear of any similar GOAT shoes that would would otherwise go undocumented.
[caption id="attachment_377" align="alignnone" width="960"] Source: Jenny Bahn via Facebook[/caption] 25-Oct-1981 – New York City Marathon – 2:08:13...
late college, I used to do all my running in the Asics Piranha SP3. I think they stopped making them in ~2016. Super light, comfortable, and the last of a dying breed of racing flats that didn't come in a neon colorway. These were the best racing/workout flat I ever used to this day.
Would like to hear of any similar GOAT shoes that would would otherwise go undocumented.
Believe it or not, I still have 2 pairs of those. I can upload the pictures once I get home and find them in my garage.
Very cool. That shoe was super light, great traction, a really durable outsole, nice ground feel, very comfortable. Many incredible performances run in them by Grete Waitz, Craig Virgin, and many others.
Yes, a great shoe. I traveled downtown Philly to buy my pair. My alltime 10K road PR was run in those shoes. Would have like to run on today's tracks with those shoes.
The best running shoes were Saucony's I got in 2013/2014.I got Kinvara's in 2014 but not sure model. Can't remember the name of other pair. Also Asics DS trainers I got in 2016 were epic as fukk but not sure what model was. I've never worn cheater shoes but I felt like the shoes were literally doing the work for me at the time even though there were no carbon fibre springs.
Trainer: either the Nike Skylon 2006-2010 or the Adidas Boston Boost, 2014ish I believe, whenever it came out. Been chasing the dragon for years trying to find a comp for these. Current Brooks Hyperion is as close as I can get.
Flats: Nike Katana racer. Unrivaled in my estimation. Wore it from 400m intervals up to HM racing.
Spikes: Nike Ventulus. Mix of nostalgia and also actually a great spike.
