A friend is trying to find some replacement shoes as her favorite pair are being discontinued. She does distance running (and a lot of trails). She’s had a series of injuries including reconstructive ankle surgery, which causes her a lot of pain when running in cushioned shoes. Before the Mushas she used the Brooks Green Silence. She’s okay with 4mm drop but 0 is too stressful on the lateral tendons of the foot/ankle.
Other shoes she has tried and not liked:
Saucony Kinvara and Cortana
Brooks PureDrift and PureConnect
Newton (all)
Pearl Izumi N1
Altra unknown
Nike Lunar Racer
Nike Free 3.0 (not terrible but not quite firm enough).
Puma Faas 350
NB 890
…there might be more but that’s what she remembers at the moment
She really like the Brooks Pure Grit and Saucony Kinvara Trail for trail running but hasn’t had much success with road shoes. Any suggestions?
I have a feeling she won’t like the Blade Lights (they’re what I run in), and I’d think they aren’t nearly minimalist for her needs, but I’ll see what she says!
I’m a huge fan of the Musha so I’m also sad to see it go.
The Wave Sayonara is more shoe, but is a lightweight shoe that might work. Personally, it lacked the support I needed but initially I really liked it. I was using it as a trainer and use the Musha for open running events shorter than the marathon.
I also like the PI tri N1, which your friend didn’t like, but I am hoping the Hitogami is a decent replacement.
I’ve run in the Musharraf, and I think the Zoot Kiawe is the closest shoe to it that I’ve tried. 4 mm drop, very minimal support & cushioning. I actually like the fit and construction of the Kiawe quite a bit more.
As a bonus, they’re on sale everywhere on-line right now.
probably worth trying the Hyperspeed once Asics brings it back. I didn’t love v5 like I did v4, but it was a good shoe. Hopefully skipping a year means they’ll recapture some of the magic of v4.