If you are a stability shoe runner (lifelong here…) what are you liking these days? I’ve been running in the latest Asics Kayanos and 2000 series. Kayanos are ridiculously comfortable but definitely a slow run shoe. Probably will try the Saucony guides next. I purchased a pair of Diadora Mythos Blushed Vigore when i was on a work trip last year and running store employee talked me into them. They were shockingly good, though, heavy and a bit hot, so I did not buy again, but you can definitely put miles and miles on those boats.
Ligelong user here too. Been using adrenaline for many years but switched to NB 860 3 years ago and prefer those. V14 of the 860 is very different from previous versions so watch out there, I really dont like v 14.
I also have the kayano 30, never really liked it a bit like the 860v14 they are so soft i feel like i lose some stability.
Tempus 2 is very liked by many for a faster and lighter stability shoe. Brooks hyperion gts is also more of a firm minimalist stability shoe.
For racing there is only one answer in my book, saucony elite v1, is it pure magic how that shoe is so stable!
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I use Saucony Guides for the 80 part of the 80/20 with a custom orthodic. I’ll buy the old models in bulk when they go on sale and have 2 on the go at all times: 1 for long runs (new/fresh) and 1 for shorter runs (closer to the back half of the lifespan). For the 20 part, I’ll go with one of the Endorphin line.
For me they’ve been the difference between being injured all the time and being relatively injury free for the past few years. Though how much of this is due to the orthodic, I dunno. I’m your typical overpronator/Parellofemoral injury type guy, but these shoes seem to keep me going.
Is New Balance SuperComp Trainer a “stability shoe?” Because those things are LETHAL
The Saucony Guide 17 is a great shoe, great update over the 16. It’s also the most Hoka like shoe without being a Hoka and it feels better than the Hoka equivalent which is the Arahi.
BUT
Saucony makes an even better stability shoe. The Tempus. You can find it on sale occasionally and the Tempus 2 just hit the shelves about a month ago. More vertical volume inside then the Guide, wider toe box. Both run well and different.
The NB Vongo 6 is a really good update. The Vongo 5 was ok, the 6 is much better. They just updated the 860 and a lot of people are liking it especially compared to the previous version. It’s softer and more bouncy.
Brooks has the Adrenaline yet I think the Glycerin GTS is a better shoe. About 1/3 of people trying them both on can’t tell a difference. YMMV
Hope that helps get you started looking at some other brands
Think I am going to pull the trigger on the Tempus 2 and give those a go. Will post an update after i put 100 miles on em.
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I haven’t been indoctrinated on what a “stability shoe” is. I just try on 6-10 pair of shoes at the running store and leave with the pair that fits my feet the best. So…what does it mean to be a stability shoe runner? Do they address specific running deficiencies, form issues, other?
The Asics Kayano has been my go-to training shoe since about the Kayano 11 and I know it is classified as a stability shoe. I am able to get about 700 miles out of them. Other shoes didn’t hold up as well. One shoe that I tried only had 400 miles on them when I had to rotate them out. I typically rotate every shoe purchase between Asics and a non-Asics shoe.
My current shoe is the Adidas Supernovas stability shoes and at 200 miles it has been one of my favorite non-Asics shoes I have trained in.
I train in shoes that are comfortable and durable. Sometimes I will race in my trainings shoes if I am worried about a lighter race shoe being too thin to prevent hot spots & blisters or too thin to prevent me from feeling rock hitting the frog of my foot on courses with gravel or dirt roads, etc. I could run a mile time trial on the track in my spikes, Gel Hypers, DS trainers, GT-2000, Kayano’s and all the times would come out within 1-2 seconds of each other.
I will say that the new high stack height carbon plated super shoes make a difference. I was skeptical about them since I could run as fast in a heavy stability shoe as a lightweight racing flat. I now train in the heavy weight training and race in the super shoes.
Thanks for sharing this.
I started competitive running in the 80’s but didn’t have anyone try to classify my running style to a shoe until late in the 90’s and by then I already knew what I liked to run in and what I didn’t like to run in. The sales guys don’t all come up with the same conclusions on what type of shoe I should be in. One told me that I was a neutral runner (what ever that means) and when I asked to see the Kayano’s, after everything he had showed me were not what I wanted to buy, he tried to talk me out of getting them. I got them anyways. I currently have Asics Dyno Blast , Adidas Supernova, and La Supportive Bushido II in the rotation. I don’t know if the Dyno Blast is a stability shoe but am guessing it isn’t. I am pretty sure the Bushido II isn’t either. All three shoes are doing fine for me right now. 
The Supernova is defiantly my favorite of the three.
ran cross country in college in the mid to late 90s and did all my training in the original Asics 1000 series that eventually morphed into the Asics 2000 series after they ran out of numbers in the early 2000s. I have no idea why, but they always worked for me. I would wear neutral trainers (usually school issued Pegasus) and could feel on the verge of injury after 4-5 weeks. That said, a lot of stability shoes do not work for me. My feet are allergic to the Brooks Adrenaline series and Mizuno’s have always been a no fly zone. I sightly over pronate. If I wasn’t racing in flats or spikes, I always raced in Adidas Boston’s for years and years. These are not stability shoes, but they worked for me. I did use DS trainers often and do recall doing some long runs over 18 miles in the old Saucony Hurricanes (these have been updated as well and look like the kayano). The one area i have not explored is the super shoe/carbon plate. i need to give them a go, but my feet never worked in Nikes, so I never bothered. I’m certain I’m missing some great race shoes now that Saucony, Asics, Adidas and NB are making variations.
I was a Nike guy in the 80’s. I have no idea what model they were but remember one of my last pair had the air pocked that you could see through a clear plastic bubble on the side of the sole of the shoe. That was a great shoe. Then I discovered the Asics. Yes, I think I was in the 1000 series. I blew out my knee in 1995 and when I returned to running after that I tried on some of the Nike Pegasus. They were a narrow shoe and I had been told by everyone who ever measured my foot that I was a narrow, but I had never worn a narrow shoe. They didn’t fit as well as the Asics but I wanted to try a narrow shoe to see if they made a difference. Well, three weeks later I was in to see a sports doctor because of pain in the shins. The doctor told me that I had done the injury to myself by running in the Pegasus. She told me to throw them away. I went out and got a pair of Asics and didn’t run in another pair of Nike until I got a pair of Alpha Fly in 2022. I wouldn’t have got the super shoes if I hadn’t just joined an elite running group and had everyone tell me that I had to get the super s hoe because they had been a game changer for them. I was skeptical because no shoe I had ever run in had made any significant difference in my race times. The Nike Alphafly were different. I dropped 10-12 sec/mile overnight racing in them. I haven’t had any problems running in the Alphafly (no shin splints, no knee pain, no blisters, etc.). I would say give the Nike Super Shoes a try.
P.S. I wasn’t 100% sure if the Pegasus were the thing that gave me shin splits. I thought it could be the narrow shoe or even uneven legs from the knee surgery. The Asics shoe did cure me from shin splits though.
I believe you’re talking about the NIKE AIR Max 180
I remember it because Ralph Steadman had done an illustration for their print ad with a jackrabbit in the desert. I can’t find a picture of the original (I’m sure there’s a comprehensive NIKE ad archive someplace?) but decades later Ralph re-purposed the artwork in packaging for Flying Dog Brewery
He (had to) cleverly obscure the NIKE swoosh, and rendering of the see-through AIR chamber, but the “180” is still clearly visible. Kind of a hack move, I must admit, but you gotta cut your heroes some slack, now & then?
I had a pair of those once, too. I picked them up at the NIKE outlet in Lancaster when we visited Hershey one year
ETA: OH!!! I found it!!!
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+3 for Saucony Guide 17.
I also enjoy the New Balance 860 v13 but the medial arch support is very present so that would be a hit or miss depending on the person.
Shoe update: Been running in the Saucony Tempus 2 and the new Saucony Hurricane’s. Definitely very different shoes. the Hurricane is very comfortable and if you currently run in Kayano’s, you might want to try. The Huricane’s have a bit more pop than the Kayano’s and feel more firm in a better way than the Kayano’s (i.e., not that overly squishy soft feel). I have about 50 miles on the Hurricanes. Will post another update in a few weeks. One Caveat re the Hurricane’s, these shoes are not speedy, but definitely protective. Incredibly comfortable. Tempus 2. I have been using the Tempus 2 for my regular day to day runs (i.e. runs that are not recovery or long slow runs to get miles in the legs and relax…these are now being done in the Hurricane’s). My feet like these shoes. They remind me of a slightly racier version of the Asics 2000 series but lighter. Much better foot turnover running in these than the Hurricane’s.
That’s because these ads demonize pronation, which is a natural motion of the foot that we need in order to comply with the ground. It’s not a bad thing. None of the conventional wisdom regarding shoe styles have really held up after studies were performed regarding them.
Considering that the shoe companies (and more importantly, Runners themselves) knew very little about it - other than “Running will destroy your knees” - they couldvpitchbwhatevervtgeybwsnted to back in the 80s, and did just that, for the most part
Remember that before there was Air or Gel for cushioning, adidas has that net-thing wrapping the midsole?