what is the minimum marathon finish time where you don't look like a tool for wearing supershoes?

I would say wear whatever footwear you know you can wear comfortably for 3-4 hours. Marathons sometimes go great and sometimes you are not as prepared as you thought and time goes out the window. PLENTY of 3:30-4 hour marathoners still wear carbon fiber plated shoes. Wear whatever you are confident in and know you can smash the pavement in for 3-4 hours or even longer.

You’re not doing anything wrong, and one else is affected. That pretty much fits the criteria of “who cares what others think?”

For many people, growing older means greater freedom from such concerns. Now that you’re over 40, it’s possible that you might be happier embracing that freedom.

40+, you will never look like a tool. Nobody expects anything from you. 20s or 30s, if you're not running at least sub-2:40 I would highly question the benefit, and anything over 3:00 makes you a bit of a tool.

I think if you’re in Alpha Flys and you run slower than 4.30, you’re getting towards the tool end of the spectrum.

Sub 3.10. On a fast course maybe sub 3.07.

For old guys the supershoes don't help the time much, but really ease the beating that the legs take from the marathon.

Nah nah nah, it's not about what you wear on the day of the race. Everyone is entitled to wearing gear they think will benefit them.

Its about how youre acting before/after. If you run a 3:45 marathon and act like hot crap with all the latest tech then yea youre a tool.

There is no shame in quietly running a "slow" marathon in supershoes and going about your life like normal afterwards

Why are you worried what you look like? What power does someone's opinion have over you?

Be your own man; like Robin Williams used to say: Joke 'em if they can't take a ---

Not sure why downvoted, this is the truth.

Let me stop you right there. Nothing we do looks cool.

“How often do you look at a man’s shoes?”

shawshank had it right, no one will notice or care. Everyone is focused on their own race.

Nope. Nobody should “expect anything” from a 20-39 year old marathon hobbyist either—and if they do, screw ‘em. If you think some 30 year old rando is a tool for running 3:01 wearing carbon plated shoes, you should take yourself less seriously and save your judgement for things that might actually matter.

Really...how often does one look at another man's shoes?

Before super shoes came along, the racing shoe vs trainer question was more valid. Racing shoes were super minimal and time on feet mattered a lot when thinking about wearing them. Currently, super shoes are some of the most protective running shoes on the market. So shoe selection basically boils down to what you are comfortable in and what you can afford. If I was a 5 hour marathon runner would I choose the Superblast or the Vaporfly 3? Does it matter to anyone but the individual? No.

The people on /r/RunningShoeGeeks seem to think super shoes are awkward feeling at anything slower than 8 minute pace (really they are designed to work best at 4:30 to low 5 minute pace)

So I guess if we go by that, 3:30-4 hour range is the perceived cutoff for a semi serious hobby male marathoner...

No one cares about your running one way or the other. Once you accept this reality you won’t have to start idiotic threads.

Moreover, a five hour marathon has the same market value as a 220: Zero.

There’s no upper limit. I was at an all comers meet and 75 year old woman was wearing vaporflys for her 200m and no one is judging her. Wear whatever you want. And the shoes don’t just make you faster, they save your legs somewhat and make the whole marathon easier, so I think it makes sense to wear them even if you’re running 5 hours.

Kenenisa Bekele (+40) ran 2:04 in Valencia . And some people expected 2:01.xx....

He’s saving that for Paris!