what's the worst shoe you've ever run in & why?

A few years ago, Nike made a shoe called the Lunar Elite. It was unresponsive, heavy, clunky, and stiff. The fit was sloppy. I bought it on a whim without wear testing it.

Here’s a link to it:

https://sneakernews.com/2010/01/05/nike-lunar-elite-mens-womens-available/amp/

It remains the only shoe I ever returned to Nike.

Brooks ghost. Absolutely annihilated my feet and gave me insane blisters in places I’ve never had blisters before. I have very easy to please feet so I was shocked. I exchanged them hassle-free with Brooks but never ran in the brand again.

Peg 36 by far.

Reebok Aztrek because they sucked, and Puma cell shoe because I bought the wrong size.

agree with me wrote:

A few years ago, Nike made a shoe called the Lunar Elite. It was unresponsive, heavy, clunky, and stiff. The fit was sloppy. I bought it on a whim without wear testing it.

Here’s a link to it:

https://sneakernews.com/2010/01/05/nike-lunar-elite-mens-womens-available/amp/

It remains the only shoe I ever returned to Nike.

oof, i had those too, they were awful. i also didn't wear test and just bought based on the success i had with previous "lunar" shoes. those things were bricks.

Hoka Napali. Bought them because the middle was supposed to be the same as the clifton one, but the upper had a crease that formed and pushed down into the top of my foot. Felt like being punched by the end of anything over 3 miles.

Nike Infinity React and the original Nike Zoomfly.

Nike Zoom Victory+. It came out in 2008 and was the first shoe with flywire. It had the hardest midsole and bruised the bottom of my foot. I could only manage 150 miles in them.

https://sneakernews.com/2008/07/02/nike-zoom-victory-white-red-silver-black/amp/

I was a lifelong ASICS runner and recently switched to Brooks Ghost. They felt good at first but I started getting weird hip pain. It took me a while to consider that it could be the shoes. I switched back to ASICS and the problem disappeared. Lesson learned.

The Original Poster wrote:

Nike Zoom Victory+. It came out in 2008 and was the first shoe with flywire. It had the hardest midsole and bruised the bottom of my foot. I could only manage 150 miles in them.

https://sneakernews.com/2008/07/02/nike-zoom-victory-white-red-silver-black/amp/

I wanted a pair of those Victorys really badly. It was such an excellent looking shoe. I read that they were terrible and that the heel cup ripped your skin off.

ON cloudstratus

Looks can be recieving.

Concrete for foam. Heavy and don't even fit great with a strange lacing style.

I enjoy alot of ON shoes, but not this one.

II think Nike used the running public as lab rats in the late '70s. I had a pair of LD1000's that were so wide in the heel they brushed the inside of my calves on every stride. They were suppose to be stable I guess. I only ran a few hundred yards in them before tossing them.

infinity react ftw wrote:

Nike Infinity React and the original Nike Zoomfly.

the infinity reacts are some of my favorite shoes ever but I just love hearing how some shoes don't work for certain people

The extreme rockered ride of the Infinity react feels terrible and awkward, plastic part digs into arch, clunky, and the upper needed another eyelet for a more secure fit around the ankle. Nike needs to stop over-engineering and over-innovating their shoes. The feet just need comfortable shoes with a normal ride.

The original Nike Zoomfly was too narrow around the heel/arch and triggered PF. It's like a poor man's Vaporfly with no added benefit from the carbon plate/foam. There's more comfortable shoes for daily training.

NB 1080V10 - hated that shoe.

Uncomfortable, weird heel cup irriatated my Achilles.

The show was dull and had absolutely no pop or responsiveness.

lunarracer 3

The Original Poster wrote:

Nike Zoom Victory+. It came out in 2008 and was the first shoe with flywire. It had the hardest midsole and bruised the bottom of my foot. I could only manage 150 miles in them.

https://sneakernews.com/2008/07/02/nike-zoom-victory-white-red-silver-black/amp/

OMG forgot how bad those were, wore then like 10 times and I never get blisters, got blisters every time, hot bloody blisters , hot feet, felt like mush and rough tight shoes all in the same. forgot how bad they were UG ,threw them straight in the trash.

Worst Free shoes. Nike Air icarus, funny thing is they are worth a lot if you have Deadstock 90's ones. My school gave me 5 pairs a year and I wish I had just kept them boxed

Worst shoes I payed for. Nike air max light2 love the max since the 88's not sure what year these were but there was a dip between the heel and the forefoot area and it was terrible, my footstroke was so wrong for these shoes. I tried to just wear them around could not even do that. they messed up mu stride for a month at least.

Worst Test shoes, Avia with a hard plate on the heal. hated the plate and fit. They kept telling up that biathlon star Ken Sousa loved them. first thing that was funny, of course he liked them he gets payed by Avia and second the guy never touched his heel to the ground so I doubt he ever hit the plate that most of us did.

What about the Vibram minimalist shoe? They had to be a bad shoe.

Snortorator wrote:

Peg 36 by far.

Care to explain why? The Peg 36 is actually my favourite everyday trainer ever, whereas I couldn’t break in the Peg 37–which I find way too stiff and hard, with a shytty upper on top. But it’s still not the worst shoe I’ve worn. That (dis)honour goes to...

The ASICS Nimbus 21. Probably the closest I’ve come to running in clogs. The upper was nice, but the midsole was rock hard and stiff. There was no way to make the landings comfortable, even on soft dirt.

(Dis)Honourable mention: NB 1080v10. Midsole was ok, but the upper ruined the shoe and set me up on a constant injury cycle until I had enough and threw them away.