had stockpiled at once is about
eight pairs, which I’ll admit is a
bit excessive.
But, they just perform so well.
The cushion from the Boost foam
is firm and lightweight. And
the shoe is versatile—soft enough
for long runs and springy enough
to do shorter fast workouts. Since
finding these shoes, I haven’t
had any serious running-related
injuries, which to me is the most
important factor.
Three years ago, I moved from
Manhattan to Bergen County,
New Jersey, and the shoes, nat-
urally, moved with me. These
days, with four young kids, I’m not
focused as much on competitive
running. After seven marathons,
I declared my 26.2 days over
when I achieved my goal time,
2:49, at the 2017 NYC Marathon.
I simply run to stay in shape. And
whether I’m tackling a treadmill
workout, enjoying an occasional
jaunt through Central Park, or
running in Jersey, you can bet
the Adizero are on my feet—and
piled in a stack inside my closet.
—As told to Jenny McCoyAdizero Boston. I slipped on the
lightweight, firm, and narrow
shoes, and they fit like nothing
had in months.
Tried new shoes, I wrote in my
running log. Promising.
They proved to be much
more than just promising. Within
a week, I stopped wearing my
other shoes in favor of the Adizero
Boston, which quickly became
my ideal lightweight shoe for any
type of workout, from speed-
work to long runs. The Boost foam
worked so well that later that year,
I started buying multiple pairs at
a time, stockpiling the extras in
my closet and grabbing a new
pair from the stash whenever
I’d worn through the old ones,
which happened every 10 weeks
or 500 miles.
I’ve now owned this shoe in a
rainbow of colors: from fluores-
cent yellow with orange, to bright
green, to blue and gray. And I
have no plans to stop buying four
to five at once. I’m running in my
26th pair, and like I mentioned,
I have six more untouched pairs
waiting at home. The most I’veEnergy Return /
The first time we
really started talking
about energy return
was because of
Boost. At the time it
was introduced, it
was industry lead-
ing—wearing a Boost
shoe, you waste less
energy with every
stride. The shoe actu-
ally feels springy.Durability /
Unlike standard
EVA, which gets
squished flat and
loses its cushioning
power over time,
Boost compresses
and rebounds witheach stride, so you
get the same soft
cushioning at mile
500 as you do at
mile 1. You’ll likely
get more mileage
from a single pair of
shoes with a Boost
midsole, too.Te mp e r atur e
Resistant/Ever
notice how your
shoes feel hard on
a cold day? That
doesn’t happen with
a midsole made
of Boost. Instead,
you get the same
protection whether
running in hot or cold
conditions.Prior to 2013,
running shoe
midsoles were
made of EVA,
the standard
white foam that
had been used for
decades. Boost,
a midsole made
from thermoplastic
polyurethane
(TPU), upended
the industry.
Here’s why I
turned Steve onto
the Adizeros with
Boost foam.
—Jeff Dengate
INSIDE
THE
BOOSTRosenbaum was testing
the similarly built Ultraboost
19 when we visited.The Adidas Adizero BostonRUNNERSWORLD.COM 89