Racing flats needed for marathon?

Ghosts are my favorite daily trainers, and honestly I think you'd be fine running a marathon in them. But you might also do well and run a bit faster in a lightweight trainer. I ran a marathon in the Brooks Launch (after doing all my marathon-paced workouts in them), and they worked great.

7 weeks out from the marathon and you’re just now considering this?

Do it in the next few days or not at all. Need to break in the shoes (most likely not that big a deal, although it’s taken me up to a month to fully break in a shoe) but also for your feet / body to get used to it

Ignore the above post.

It doesn’t take a month to break in a pair of shoes. Ridiculous claim.

Soon can leave soon wrote:

Ignore the above post.

It doesn’t take a month to break in a pair of shoes. Ridiculous claim.

What part of “probably less” or “up to” didn’t you understand? Not all shoes or feet are the same.

Do what makes you feel confident going into the race. Just don’t go too light, especially if it’s your first marathon. Light weight helps, psychological boost even more, but if you go too light you may find you feel feeling beat up in the second half (aka the last 6 miles).

Adidas adios have served me well but I wouldn’t go lighter.

...one more thing. Most new shoes require little breaking in. But if you haven’t tried a shoe model you need to test it out first to see how they work for you. If they feel good on a couple short runs then wear them on two or three of your long runs prior to Chicago.

Soon wrote:

7 weeks out from the marathon and you’re just now considering this?

Do it in the next few days or not at all. Need to break in the shoes (most likely not that big a deal, although it’s taken me up to a month to fully break in a shoe) but also for your feet / body to get used to it

After a month of marathon training my shoes would be worn out not worn in.

Skip the flats and get the Nike next%, they will be faster and provide more support leading to less chance of an injury for you.

Staying in the same budget range as the Ghost ($130 & 31-19 offset), train in the Ghost and race in the NB 890 ($120 & 27-21 offset) at 3 ounces lighter and plenty of cushion underfoot.

Wore wrote:

Soon wrote:

7 weeks out from the marathon and you’re just now considering this?

Do it in the next few days or not at all. Need to break in the shoes (most likely not that big a deal, although it’s taken me up to a month to fully break in a shoe) but also for your feet / body to get used to it

After a month of marathon training my shoes would be worn out not worn in.

I bought a new pair of flats 3 weeks prior to a marathon once. I did four of 3-4 mile runs in them, two 6-7 milers and a 12 mile training run on them. So about 40 miles prior to marathon day. Marathon was a disaster with blisters forming shortly after halfway. Those shoes ended up being my favorite pair, with over 2k miles on them.

All new shoes after that I broke in over at least 4 weeks and up to 100 miles.

But hey, to each his own