Doctors of Running Podcast · Doctors of Running

#265 The Best/Worst Things Each Running Shoe Company Does

·1 hr 25 min·5 clips

A 2014 shoe gets modified with a buzzsaw because it digs into the Achilles.

A return-to-running plug opens the episode. The cold open talks injured runners through load management, treadmill use, tendon issues, bone stress injuries, and the Lever Movement system. Then the shoe chat gets rolling. David Salas brings Dr. Matthew Klein into a different kind of Doctors of Running episode, built around what running shoe companies tend to get right and what they keep messing up. The tone is loose, but the opinions have teeth. Their company takes keep turning into mechanics, market realities, and the very practical question of what runners actually feel underfoot. Kayano becomes the cleanest pressure test in the excerpt. The panel treats it as a useful example of how hard it is to update a long standing shoe without losing the people who liked the older recipe. Drop and geometry matter here. One speaker thinks the changes can make the shoe better, while still admitting that feet, preferences, and expectations vary enough that everyone is not going to agree. The business side keeps barging in, because it has to. They point out that many footwear companies make a lot of their money from people walking and standing in running shoes, not only from runners. Racing shoes are the exception. Super shoes changed the old math because people now buy racing footwear in numbers that earlier racing flats never reached. That context makes the critique feel fairer. The panel still wants companies to move, but they understand why familiar models get protected and why big updates can get risky fast. ASICS gets the next turn. The conversation even pauses for a small pronunciation check around ASICS and Kayano, which feels very on brand for the show: technical judgment, then a quick correction before everyone keeps going. The ending runs long. They joke that the landing got delayed because there was still more company discussion to cover before the episode could close. It feels like a panel still arguing through the finish line. By the end, the tension is simple: better shoes need change, but change still has to work for real runners and for people using running shoes well beyond running.

As heard by us

A blunt, practical shoe debate that compares brands without much hype.

The show takes a clear pro-con approach to running shoes, centering the tradeoffs in geometry, drop, and the simple reality that different runners need different fits.

Read the full review in PlayNext →

Why you'd press play

Hear a blunt pro-con take on what running shoe brands get right and wrong.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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