Skechers GoRun Ride - Early Impression

So I decided to exchange my Gorun Speeds and head completely the other way and pick up a pair of the GoRun Rides instead. Reason being that I had already just picked up a pair of the Mizuno Ekidens and was still in the process of breaking them in when my friend purchased the Gorun Speeds for me. The soles were simply too firm for me to run in comfortably (or even safely, as I developed some shin pain early on with those shoes). I figured having four racers in my rotation was a little overboard and what I really needed was a cushioned long run trainer. I decided towards the GoRun Rides rather than the GoRun 2s as the tapered toe-box in the new GoRun 2s really turned me off.

Skechers GoRun Rides brand new out of the box.

This is actually the second pair of Go Run Rides, as the first pair had a manufacturing defect (more on that below). So that made it TWO exchanges I made at the San Francisco Skechers store without any hassle. Have I mentioned how much I love the folks who work there?

They look kind of wide and heavy, but are in fact super light. As light as most racers.

While I wouldn't say the wideness gives you significant stability, the Rides don't feel
nearly as nimble as the regular GoRuns.

My very first impression just slipping them on: COMFY. My mother actually thought they were hospital recovery shoes when I had her try them on. The upper is similar to the regular GoRun 1 but with a more accommodating toebox. You feel a very distinctive "squish" when walking in these. Some have compared it to the Saucony Kinvara, but I feel like these are much cushier than the Kinvaras (note: I have the Kinvara 1s and have heard the more popular Kinvara 2s are a tad cushier). They are by far the cushiest shoe I own. This isn't necessarily a good thing for a lot of people and I personally own mostly firm shoes. But that's why I chose these, to go to the other end of the spectrum and hope they would work for me. And they have so far.

One of the most distinctive traits of the GoRun series is the M-strike technology. Whether this specifically refers to the fact that the mid-sole is thickest in the mid-foot or to the cutaway heel or both, I'm not sure. But the result is a claimed disposition towards a mid-foot strike and for once, a claimed gimmick for a shoe clearly works. Not only do I distinctly feel myself running with a mid-foot stride and strike, the sole wear confirms it.

Sole of the GoRun Ride. The white pillars are super squishy Resalyte EVA compound. The black pillars are much firmer carbon rubber-type compound that are supposed to give your feet tactile feedback and encourage a mid-foot strike. I personally found the pillars a little bit too firm in the GoRuns, but the extra cushioning of the GoRun Rides neutralizes this.

Wear on the sole. Note the clean heel. Most of the dirt on the heel is probably
 from me putting my heel down as I drive my car. Also note that the criss-cross Go Impulse sensor is more towards the heel than in the Go Run 1s. I suspect this may encourage a semi-heelstrike.

I've run a total of about 12 miles on them now. No need to break them in. Any breaking in pretty much occurs within the first mile as I've detected no change since then. They feel just as they're marketed: the big cushy brother of the regular GoRuns. They weigh just a skosh more (a reported 0.2 ounces more), are wider, both on the sole and in the upper, have significantly more cushion, and don't have nearly as pronounced a "hump" feeling on the midfoot like the GoRuns, making these very walkeable (though I definitely wouldn't wear them as casual kicks to walk in). Related to these traits, they also don't feel nearly as nimble and fun as the GoRuns, which made you want to just run faster for no reason all the time like some never ending fartlek. I wouldn't call these slow, but to give you an idea, I just came back from a tempo run today and while I felt a perceived effort of 7:15/mile (close to my threshold pace), I looked down at my GPS to see it clocking at 7:30. If you are looking for a 5K racer, this is not it. The comfy squish sucks away some energy and pop and minimizes ground feel. They are also the lowest in ground feel of any athletic shoe I have (including my basketball high tops). I actually run over these bumps San Francisco places at intersections to compare ground feel in different shoes when I'm running.

This guy. I feel almost no bumps through the sole of the GoRun Rides.

Comfort level is again, high. The upper is reminiscent of the Nike Frees and offer very little support. They are a stretchy elastic polyester-type material with decent breathability and is mostly seamless. The insole is significantly thick and was somewhat rougher as I did develop blisters on the bottom of my feet under the big toes on my first 3 mile run and then again on my second 3 mile run with these shoes. Both times they appeared around the end of the run and continuedly lessened. On today's 5 mile run, I did not get any blisters. I do not wear socks. I also suspect that my first pair was so significantly "off" that they were partly the source of the blisters.

Rear of the shoes on my new pair.

Rear of the shoes on my first defective pair. Note the left midsole's uneveness which I could
feel while running. This  pair also had a tighter toe box.

There are no reflective material on the shoe that I could find, so night runners take note. The laces are flat and do not cut on top of the foot. However, I found the ankle locking ability of this shoe sub-par, even with the "Vari-lock" holes. They are simply too low to offer good leverage even with a lace-locking setup. There is no heel-counter to speak of, but the heel collar runs a tiny bit lower than I would like. I believe 1/2 size up would net me the perfect heel collar height.

I feel like "Vari-lock" is too fancy a name for extra holes that most running shoes already have.

These may be reflective, I'm not sure. It may be enough to stop a Hot Wheel car.

Heel collar is comfy and completely disappear for me on the run, despite being a tad bit low.
The shoe comes with an extra set of different colored laces, in this case an alternate grey.

It's one of those "completely collapsable heel counters" heel counters.

The ride is smooth and these are one of the quietest shoes I've run in, especially once you settle into the mid-foot stride. I find myself "gliding" along the ground even moreso than in my other shoes in which I mid-foot strike cleanly. Impact is low when running in these shoes both due to the ample cushioning and to the mid-foot strike. The mid-foot to toe transition is smooth probably because of the super flexible nature of the shoe itself but not effortless due to the squish and moderate stack height. Some may find it too "squishy." What I mean is I feel that as you land, you go through 80% of the compression very quickly before you finally get to the end where you feel surefooted enough to begin the toe off. On the topic of flexibility, these are one of those where you can fold it into a ball if you wanted to. Less so than the regular GoRuns because of the thicker mid-sole, however.

Unlike the GoRuns, I DO feel like its possible to heel-strike in these, but I haven't naturally settled into that so I could not speak as to what that would feel like in these shoes. I recall that in the GoRun I had to lean forward and almost initiate a fore-foot strike to get the best stride out of them (which I think gave me that "fun nimble feeling" that the GoRuns are known for). I do not have to do that in these.

The insoles. I recall the early production runs being green. On closer inspection, it looks like these are "spray painted" grey. Maybe it'll rub off after some more runs and I can confirm.

Insole is removable. I tried it once. Did not like the odd cushioning feeling and never tried again.

Durability has been reported to be very high, at least 300 miles. In my experience with the GoRun 1s, I believe it as the sole never seemed to ever show any wear. Even my GoBionics have no signs of sole wear other than a gash from something gnarly I ran on. I suspect the upper will be the first to go on these.

Closer view of the GoImpulse units.

I tend to wear out the tip quickly on shoes. I suspect these will be able to resist that.

Weight is reported to be 7.9oz for men size 9 and 5.9oz for women's size 6. Forefoot stack height of 12mm, mid-foot of 19mm, heel of 16mm netting you a heel-drop of 4mm. It should be noted that every millimeter at the smaller sizes nets you a more severe ramp angle than for the larger sizes so that a 4mm in a small shoe will feel more severe than 4mm in a larger shoe. Higher heel-drop seems to be one of the  factors that encourage a heel-strike. I wear smaller than average shoe size but found the M-strike to work just as it claims.

Front. The toe-box is wide enough that I don't have to alter the lacing scheme to free
up toe-box room.

Close up. Note the mesh toe box. It's not super airy but more airy than a
traditional trainer and airy enough for me. I don't recall getting swamp feet in these.

Early impression: I think I've found one of "the" shoes for me (I've given up on trying to find "the" shoe as I have too many needs. Just going to try to find "the shoes" from this point on). For me this will be the long run trainer both for easy runs and higher half-marathon pace long runs. I may occasionally take it out for tempo runs but I think I have better shoes for that. I've found these to be incredibly comfy both in regards to the upper and the ride due to the minimalist upper and non-minimalist mid-sole. And the fact that it still accomplishes the promised mid-foot strike without effort in such a cushy shoe with little ground feel is impressive to me. Style-wise, it's meh, but I wasn't able to snag the Warrior colorway. I've found the price to be as low as $50 if you don't mind hideous colors and as high as $80 for the aforementioned Warrior colorway. It's too early to recommend this shoe yet but I'm having very positive impressions. I'm even starting to think this may be a good "gifting shoe" to get friends to run more.

I would love to hear other people's experiences with this shoe.

Medial side.

Resalyte mid-sole. It's cushy. Definitely one of those "It's like running on marshmallows. I hate it!/I love it!" shoes.

M-strike. The upper overlays do not protrude to the interior of the upper like the regular
goRuns did, which was the source of some arch blisters for me.

Front.