saucony Silver Originals Shadow 5000 "Fresh Picked" Pack
It’s not every day that you hear the words “racing shoes” and “soft” uttered in the same phrase. Most racing shoes feature firm, but responsive, foams that act as a lever for your feet to push off from–much to my chagrin. I really prefer softer shoes, even for race day, so when I slipped my feet into the Endorphin Elite 2 I was delighted.
The thick bed of incrediRUN foam (we don’t know exactly what it’s made of, as saucony Silver keeps this proprietary information close to the vest) felt soft, squishy, bouncy and overall just glorious. The Elite 2 features the same slotted carbon-fiber plate as the previous version, which is supposed to add an element of flexibility to the otherwise rigid material. I had some issues with my toes going numb in the previous version of the Endorphin Elite, and I assumed it was because of the firm foam and aggressive rocker shape. I felt hopeful that the softer foam in the Elite 2 would eliminate that problem.
However, a couple of miles into my test run my toes started to have the same feeling. I now think that it has nothing to do with the foam but rather the way the rocker shape holds my toes while running at an easy to moderate pace.
However, I really enjoyed the feel of this shoe otherwise, so I wore them for a Turkey Trot 5K and ran a 3-second PR of 19:43! I was so thrilled that I decided to wear them for the 2025 Houston Half Marathon, despite having some uncomfortability during my test run and, what do you know, I ran another PR! The toe issues I had during my test run didn’t bother me during the races, likely because I was running fast, with a forefoot landing.