Written by Michael Hamilton, SB Staffer
 

 
After almost 5 decades of racing I truly thought I could no longer be surprised with a running shoe. Shoes were simply a mix of support and cushion with variations in drop. The over engineered shoes that lead to a sub 2 hour marathon were simply for the elite.
 

A New Kind of Shoe

 
But lately it seems these “super shoes” have lead to new tech for the daily runner with surreal results. Case in point the Saucony Tempus.

Listed as a support shoe in an understated way this shoe is so much more. With a wider denser frame and lighter foam it would be much more but with the additional stack the kinetic response of the shoe takes it to a whole new level.

And thats the amazing part. I never imagined I'd get that much support from a shoe let alone actually be talking about kinetic return which has suddenly become a favorite thing for us to talk about in the store. It's like a small fire burning through footwear. Suddenly shoes have rockers that actually deliver in a far more interactive way.

But then the question would be which shoe would work. For myself the mix of that return and the placement of cushion are key components. Saucony's 8mm drop with a springy frame that offered more of the kind of support that I wanted  than a carbon endorphin was perhaps the single most exciting shoe Ive put on in 15 years.

Every foot strike in this shoe I can feel the support and the spring and that Im working less. It truly changed a lot of my daily runs and got me amped up to train for another race. 

To that end several of us signed up for a 5K to race in the tempus and a few even placed in top 3 in their age group. Myself I merely took 9 minutes of my prior 5K - so you can guess why I love this shoe so much.

Exciting times to race and Im definitely looking forward to more to come well done!