There have been far too many “new” shoes in my running shoe rotation this year, but I am getting to try a few brands that I haven’t before, so that much is good. I am also learning that there is a quality difference between brands that gets pretty apparent once you have seen the differences up close.
However, I have never run in Salomon running shoes before today, though I had tried them on a few times before, but the narrow toe box and price points had always scared me off before.
So today I got to run in another pair of new shoes, the Salomon Sonic (2016) version. The Sonic’s are a birthday present from Bennie and he found them on eBay and then negotiated with the seller to get them for a really good price.
The weight at 9.3 ounces is right in the wheelhouse of where I want my trainers to be, the shoes themselves seemed to be well built, no obvious flaws and appeared about as close to new as any shoes I have received through eBay. While they were a tiny bit snug in the forefoot, the rest of the shoes fit perfectly with my toe-socks.
Which means that I didn’t just put them back in the box and ship them back. I have done that a lot when I get shoes that do not fit.
The Salomon Sonic (2016) passed all the initial stuff and all that was left was to go for run in them.
Like always the first mile is figuring out what minor stride adjustments and how to land to get the shoe to run most efficiently with the way I run. I have found that each running shoe has its own “best” way to run in them and the Salomon’s were no different. The heel-to-toe transition was smooth, with the toe off quite nice with no extra snap after toe off due being touch too long, which was a nice change.
The second and third miles of my 4.0 mile run were at a comfortable effort pace since the temps were in the 80’s and humidity/dew points were above 70%. I didn’t want to get too overheated, but I still sweat quite nicely. The last mile I pushed the pace a little more and moved to the comfortably hard range and came close to breaking 8:00.
Now the Sonics will never be confused with a speed/race day shoe and that is not what Bennie got them for me for. They are an easy/recovery and longer run shoes and the true test for the snug forefoot will be when I take them out for that double-digit run. However, I want to break them in with about 20 miles before I go heading out for a long run in them.
Some shoes do need 20-30 miles to form themselves to your foot and I have a feeling that the Sonics are a pair that will need that before doing that long run stuff in them. However, I do like the way they felt during my first run and can foresee the insole packing down a little and the upper stretching a tad, which should be enough to make these very comfortable to run in, without making them sloppy.
With the amount of rubber on the outsole, the Salomon Sonics are never going to be silent Ninja shoes, but once I figured out their preferred gait cycle they do not slap the road and run very smoothly.
Plus with that colorway, they are definitely “Harold shoes”. The other thing about the upper was that it breathed a helluva lot better than my Pegasus 33 Shields and I didn’t have swamp foot when I got done. Hell, I didn’t even leave a sock trail on the floor today and it was hot and muggy out there for that run – so that was a good thing.
A pretty good first impression, now to get some good miles and a few long runs on them and see how they feel moving forward.
Thank you Bennie for the early birthday present – they have great potential. Looking closely at these shoes, I have a feeling that I should have looked at the Salomon brand sooner.
Time will tell how they work for me.
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