ON Running

I think they are super expensive.

I ran in the flows for about 150 miles. I liked them for about 50. I don't think they are suited for moderate to high mileage training. Anything over 10 miles in them felt like too much. I normally run in NB 1400's for what it's worth.

Also you constantly have to stop and pick out rocks from between the clouds.

Rocks stuck in sole all the time, not a good design for any gravel trail unless you rubber cement those up. Fine for roads but there are faster for that purpose.

I am a huge fan of them. Right now on the 4th pair of cloud surfer, i use it for easy and long runs mostly, but i also did some speed work in them and they seem just fine. I have to change them once i hit 520m in them or my knee starts hurting.

Wife hates the stones getting stuck in hers

I’ve got pair of the trackies and whilst comfortable are super expensive at £100

Great looking design but they are not that comfy. If you do t like a soft shoe the CloudStratus is maybe the most durable shoe on the market and can take a ton of easy miles. Your average hobbyjogger can easily get 7-800 miles and I think some people on here would be able to exceed 1500 easily.

I really love mine and I get more miles out of them than I’ve gotten out of New Balance or Saucony. It is annoying because rocks do get stuck but I’m mostly on roads and sidewalks so it’s not a constant thing for me.

I have a pair of Cloud Flow. Use them for fast running, not on trails. They are super comfortable (nice wide toe box) and light. For that I love them. But I was pretty pissed when the fabric on the inside of the heel tab started to break up after a few weeks of light use. The damage has stabilized now, but I expected much better, given the high price.

They didn't work for me. The stones stuck in the outsole on a regular basis, as has been mentioned. Also, the longer the run, the more pain under my 5th metatarsal base on both feet, which got intolerable after just a few miles. I've never had that experience with any other of the dozens of running shoe models I've worn in the past. Summary: not for me.

They’re fashion shoes that look cool and you CAN run in them, but it’s not ideal to do so. If you get a pair in your hands, take the insole out and tap inside. It will sound as if you are knocking on a block of wood. This is the ‘speed board’, which makes the shoes heavy for their low cushion level. It certainly does nothing for speed.

Given the chance to run in other brands’ shoes, the sponsored runners you mention toss out the On shoes gratefully. An exception I would say is that triathletes seem to actually like them for some reason.

They are excellent for après-ski in Switzerland but anywhere else they are best kept for happy hour because they are overly-costly attention grabbers. For running they are fine if you enjoy rocks stuck in your shoes.

I ran in them from 2013 to last summer - basically my entire running lifetime. Clouds until 2017, then Cloudventure Trail (I think that's the model name).

They hold up pretty well - I'd usually have to get a new pair due to oncoming injuries and really flat feeling every 5 months or so doing a regular high school training schedule with 25 mpw, up to 40 mpw.

Really, really fast break-ins, were useful. I once got a brand new pair, and the next day ran 14 miles of relays on trails and they felt great.

I don't think rocks getting stuck in them is as big of a problem as people are whining about. Yeah it happens every so often, but you just flick them out with your finger and barely break a few strides on your training run. If you're doing a tempo on a rocky trail or something maybe it's annoying, but really not that big of an issue.

I did notice that the rocks getting stuck seems to be more of a problem with the newer models, since maybe 2017, probably because of the narrower track between the pods in the middle of the foot.

I once tried the On Cloud X and really did not like it. Too soft for me. Just a random point.

FINALLY, the most important point I should mention is I had chronic IT band issues for probably 4 years on and off. Once I switched shoes this fall to a pair Brooks GTS 20, and additionally after a few months of solid strength training, I never again had issues. I think it is both of these factors, as I've done a lot of mitigation stuff for ITBS in the past while running in ONs.

Final final point, some models are a little heavy, but I did tons of middle distance/sprint workouts in the clunky trail variant in high school and wasn't bothered.

Sorry, *Cloud Surfers (first line)

Basically, though, for the price, I think there are much better options out there. There is a lot of techno-hype surrounding the "pods", but (despite my mild praise for the shoes in the previous post) I've kind of woken up to how they don't seem to be very helpful to me in either 1) injury prevention or 2) feeling of the shoe.

I ran in a pair of these for a while. I was probably running in the wrong kind of pair for my training surface (almost all roads). But for trail grass and sof surfaces I think one would have good experience with them. They’re nice shoes but they’re ‘concept-shoes’ if you know what I mean.

I will commend the company for supporting elite runners.

And to echo everyone else, yes, rocks get stuck in them all the time.