Over the past few years, I've tried many carbon fiber racing shoes. Including the following: Hoka Carbon X and Rocket X 2, Saucony Endorphin Pro 1 and Pro 3, Nike Vaporfly Next Percent 2 and Alphafly, New Balance Fuel Cell RC Elite V2, Asics Metaspeed Sky, Puma Deviate Nitro Elite, and Adidas Adios Pro 3.
The Saucony Endorphin Elite stands out to me among these strong competitors. Of that group of shoes, I'd say that certain ones are better for shorter races, while other are more suited to longer races. Some are stiffer than others. Some are more propulsive. Some are more forgiving. Some are more stable and others very unstable. Each has it's strengths and weaknesses.
To me, this is the best shoe of this group. It checks every box for me. It feels propulsive, forgiving and stable at marathon pace. But I also just ran a 5k in this shoe and got my best result of the year at that distance. It's light, fast, breathable, has great lockdown and some room in the toe box. The roll and efficiency of the shoe is fantastic and the propulsiveness and energy return is great. I think that I have found the perfect racing shoe for me. It may not be the best shoe for every runner. But for me, this shoe is like a unicorn. Majestic and hard to find. And the one that I got is shiny and white. I know that I'll be able to give my best when I lace this shoe up.
My only concern would be long term durability, because of the exposed foam on the outsole. But we'll see how this shoe does over the miles. This will be my choice for the Marathon that I'm running on 10/22. It's also expensive, at $275. I got them at a discount, but I'd gladly pay full price for this shoe. It's that good.
I'm definitely going to get another pair of these when they go on sale and I'm actually hoping that Saucony does not make many changes to the next version of this shoe. I feel like the guy in Love Actually who holds up the sign for Keira Knightley, "To me, you are perfect."
