Saucony Endorphine Azura - perfect shoe for heavy runners
Profile:
1.93m/6’4
95 kg/ 210 lbs
Overpronator
Using custom orthotics
I’ve been searching for months for a proper shoe for me. I’m a heavy and tall runner, with weak knees and ankles. I require lots of cushioning, however most great cushioning shoes have the downside of being overly soft to the point they hurt my ankles.
Fell into a few popular traps:
Novablast 5: honestly great shoe, quite soft and responsive, but still lacking a bit of stability and heavy runners like me bottom it out.
Vomero plus: great impact protection and very cushiony, but incredibly unstable laterally. My foot seems to “sink away” laterally constantly leaving my ankles to hurt a ton.
Puma velocity nitro 5: great stability, responsive. Amazing daily trainer, but sadly not enough impact protection for my weak joints. It hurts my joints after a longer run.
Until I tried out the Saucony Endorphin Azura.
Finally I found a perfect mix of stability, cushioning and energy return. First run in weeks where none of my joints hurt and my ankles are pain free. Also my pace went from 7:30/km to almost 5:30/km.
The only downside to some would probably be that it doesn’t feel very plush or bouncy underfoot. To me it’s not a downside at all because it’s exactly the firmness that provides such a great stability!
From my experience and from a few other’s I’ve read: this midsole is firm to lighter runners, but to heavy runners like me they have more give and feel a little more cushiony.
TLDR: Heavy runners like me struggle finding a proper shoe that is protective, doesn’t bottom out, hurt our joints or feel dead in terms of energy return. The Azura finally solved all of that for me. Bought a second pair as a testament to how good they are for me.