This morning before 8:00 AM up drives USPS to deliver a bunch of packages (he usually doesn’t get here until late afternoon), one of which was a familiarly shaped box. TheWife loudly proclaimed “Running Shoes!”. Me, I smiled sheepishly, went and got the box, opened it, and tried on the newest addition to the rotation.

The Hyperion Tempo is my first pair of Brooks shoes that I have been excited about in quite a while. I have run in some versions of the Launch series and the older lines just haven’t woo’ed me all that muchwhich. They are a shoe that I have wanted to try for a while, but the retail price is a bit more than I am willing to do for a pair of running shoes that I can’t try on before I buy them. 

They fit nicely, but a bit long, which is okay since I got them for a specific purpose.

Today was a great day to test them, since it was nasty and cold outside. 

My scheduled workout was 5 miles easy (9:10 to 9:55).

Outside it was snow/sleet/freezing Rain/Rain temps hovering at 28*F, a bit of a breeze out of the NNE, in other words, sloppy conditions at best. If it had been just snow, I probably would have dug out the Salomon Speedcross 5s. However, with the weather being more slush, ice, wet roads — I wanted something with a bit more surface contact than the SS5s has with those big lugs. I also knew that the Endorphin Speed 2s don’t have quite enough grippage for this weather. 

Looking back after the run, for the Hyperion Tempos, this weather was right at the point where they weren’t really enough either. However, it was the first time running in them, so I figured instead of hitting the elliptical, I could find out just how good they are in nastier weather. Yeah, I get excited about new running shoes.

I was impressed on the first lap, it was more snow than anything and the grip was okay, a few slips here or there, but when I hit a clear, wet area, I could feel the shoes gripping the road nicely. As the snow turned more to sleet, the Tempos’ ability to do well even in the parts that had been snow and were now slush was more difficult. Then when it turned to freezing rain, I could feel the shoes slipping a lot more on the icy, slush-covered road. 

Not too many road shoes or trail shoes are going to do well in those conditions, unless they have carbide tips on them.

However, there was enough traffic on the road that for the last couple of laps, I could follow in the tire tracks. Which was better than attempting to run on the side. Towards the end of the last lap, it had turned to mostly rain and was washing the slush off into puddles, which were easier to run around, and on the wet tar, the Hyperion Tempos were great.

However, my other shoes are all pretty smooth bottomed or not wide enough to let me wear thicker socks and still be comfortable. Plus, I don’t want to wear-out the Endorphin Speed 2s and need a pair or two of shoes to run in during the colder weather.

Yes, if you have been reading along with these running adventures, there are a pair of Hyperion Tempos size 8.0 under the tree. However, I didn’t feel like waiting for them or the Forza 4’s that I know are there as well. I know, more excuses to get more running shoes.

The Brooks Hyperion Tempos size 8.0s will be a great fit with thinner socks, but with it being Winter in Maine now (I consider December 1st the first day of Winter), and how often I need to wear my merino wools socks in this weather. I knew that the 8.0s were not going to be a good fit with them. Plus, I have a feeling I would get in just a bit of trouble if I started opening Christmas presents this early. The Tempos size 9.0 are going to work fine with my thicker socks.

Although my feet and the rest of me were soaked through, to the skin, my feet didn’t have any hot spots (not today that’s for sure), err blisters and the Hyperion Tempos did more than I should have asked of them. I was impressed with how well they did on the wet tar and in the sloppy conditions that I took them out on for a first run. 

The Hyperion Tempos were comfortable and the midsole while a bit firmer than I thought it would be, it was not harsh, so that is fine. 

I ended up doing the workout as planned and was able to maintain the planned easy pace for all my splits. It even turned to an easy run – progression run.

No, I don’t enjoy running in this crap, but getting a new pair of running shoes to try out for the first time, makes crappy conditions a bit more bearable. 

The best part is that even though the Brooks Hyperion Tempos are not really designed for this kind of crappy weather, I was able to get out there, play a little, smile a lot and now I want to see how they do in decent weather.

Oh yeah, the other side of this is that a pair of Brooks Catamounts, will be showing up sometime soon to cover the gap I seem to have in shoes for running in bad weather. Especially, since we seem to be getting more and more storms that are too much sleet/freezing rain lately and not enough snow to get out the Speedcross 5 with their great lugs.