I also loved the Kinvara 3's and 4's and hate the 5's. What I didn't like about the 5 was the squishy soles.
I've got about 150kms into a pair of NB Vazee Paces and the soles have a similar feel to the early Kinvaras. The toebox is also quite a bit wider. Not a perfect match for me but "good enough"

Good to know. I was looking at the Vazees as a training shoe and then 1500v1 as a race shoe.

Hows the upper? Does your pinky toe bore a hole through it like the Kinvara 3s? (mostly joking)

Saucony vs NB vs Hoka vs ?



Getting back in the long course game. Ran in the Kinvara 3's and loved them. Hated the 5s. Thinking of trying NBs or Hokas.

Like an idiot I decided to run in my Newton Distance for IMFL last year despite not running more than 5 miles in them but I had no issues. I don't think I'd go back to Newtons though. Was never comfortable.

Ideally I'm looking to have a couple of different shoes in my rotation that won't leave me hurting after my long runs. I never had consistent soreness but ever so often I would notice my feet were sore from/during long runs but never prohibitive. Never had to stop a run from it. Moving forward I'm signed up for IM next year and want to get some new shoes.

31 y/o 170ish lbs. Neutral or mild support needed. IM/long pace around 8-8:30.

Any suggestions and feedback would be great. Thanks in advance.

Recent Hoka adopter here. Hokas have been showing up in on-line sales of late so you can try them out without dropping $100 or so. There was a PSA last week for $49 sale. I would think that going from Kinvaras to Hokas is going to be a pretty drastic change. They are going to feel really soft at first. I don't mean this as negative but I think it will be pretty noticeable.

I just switched to Asics after a year or so in limbo where I tried a bunch of different shoes. I went with the Super J33 2 for training and the Gel DS Racer 10 for racing, but I tried a couple different shoes from Saucony, Newton, and even a few other Asics that didn't feel right to me. I think it's pretty personal and the really crappy thing is that nothing seems to run the same. I was all over the place with sizes, even within the same brand. The Kinvara 5 to 6 didn't even run the same in my experience when I was trying them out. I did like the 5s a lot though. For training for me right now, the Super J33 2 has enough cushion and support that I would at least recommend giving it a shot. Plus the look normal and aren't ugly as hell.

I use the 1500v1 as a training and race shoe but not sure I would want to run a marathon in them. Previously I used the 1400v1 and v2 for training and races up to HIM and loved them. The 1500 seems to have a bit more cushion than the 1400. I'm 145lbs and not a great runner.