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.
Cheers.
Nike Andre Agassi's were hot
OG Nike Jasaris are hard to top for me
Nike waffle racer was the best running shoe. Training, racing, whatever. Just a basic shoe with no fat pillow for you to foolishly heel strike onto.
Blue Vaporfly Flyknight
Between Vaporly 4% and Next%
They were revolutionary and catapulted carbon plated shoes onto the running scene.
training wise, Adidas Boston 7. Not bulky and not minimalist, it just felt right. And it's durable as heck hbecause it's TPU-based. Mine lasted for 2000KM+, and I only retired it when the upper fell apart.
ASICS - JAPAN SERIES - SKYSENSOR
Assuming you mean running-related and not just all shoes ever...
Saucony Type A9.
It was the sweet spot in terms of weight, price, durability. Low profile, light enough to race in. I think it had a 15mm fore + 19mm heel stack so a lot of people could still do most training runs in it if desired. It had a reasonable price relative to its competitors. I think mine held up until like 800+ miles of training runs before the foam got beat up enough that I'd feel it in my legs.
New Balance RC205 (Khannouchi WR shoe)
ASICS DS-Trainer back in the day
Brooks Racer ST back in the day
Salomon SLAB Genesis
Nike Vaporfly 4
running: Saucony Endorphin Speed 2
non-running: Doc Martens
For me, Topos and Alpha Flies. I stopped getting seriously injured when I switched to this training combo a couple of years back (Alphas for workouts).
Of course, its going to depend on your own foot shape and running style but this has done wonders for me.
Old School
Waffle Racer
Adidas Tokyo 64 spikes with replaceable spikes
Medium School
Nike Jasaris
Puma Harambees
Nike Kennedy -- both XC and Track
New School
Nike 4%
Nike Victory 2
Puma Nitro 3 Elite
Pegasus turbo 2.
I had a pair of piranhas. They ended up having too much room in the toebox for me - I only raced in them like once. They were a 3.9 oz shoe - lighter than most spikes on the market at the time.
My favorite for training and racing half marathon and above was the Adizero Rocket. They felt faster than the 7.4 oz would suggest and they lasted over 2000 miles.
My favorite for shorter races was the nike streak xc/lt series. I'm still training in deadstock of the streak lt 4. I had and liked them all xc 1-3 and lt 1-4.
I also liked the brooks t3-t5. They had kind of a weird shape, but were just about perfect for my feet.
For spikes,
I liked the ike forever xc for anything that wasn't a grass track course.
Reebok distance fosters for grass track xc and track.
For casual shoes
Puma Taper sp. I ruined the one pair of them I had by running in them one summer.
Ckesn wrote:
New Balance RC205 (Khannouchi WR shoe)
ASICS DS-Trainer back in the day
Brooks Racer ST back in the day
Salomon SLAB Genesis
Nike Vaporfly 4
Any chance you remember an orange colored new balance racer from around the time period Khannouchi was running? I had some RC something or a rather. I think it was lighter than the 205.
Brooks Adrenaline. Hands down.
Hoka Clifton
