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09/07/2026

Josh has got his hands on a pretty insane bit of tech from

A pair of shoes which connect to your phone? It might sound like a gimmicky piece of tech, but in the running industry KIPRUN have been able to put this to great use with monitoring the degradation of your midsole over time.

Stay tuned in the coming weeks for Josh’s thoughts and review of the shoes!

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Most midsole’s comes down to one of four foam families, and the differences can be pretty drastic.A-TPU trades some weig...
09/07/2026

Most midsole’s comes down to one of four foam families, and the differences can be pretty drastic.

A-TPU trades some weight for exceptional lifespan and stays consistent in the cold, seen in shoes like the New Balance SC Rebel and Topo Specter Elite.

PEBA sits at the other extreme: the lightest, bounciest option with the highest energy return available, at the cost of faster mechanical fatigue. The On Cloudboom Strike 2 and Altra Vanish Carbon 3 are two great examples.

EVA is the budget-friendly middle ground, soft and lightweight but the first to pack out over time.

TPEE tries to close that gap, chasing PEBA-level energy return with better durability, though it demands precise tuning to avoid feeling dead underfoot.

The real split isn’t really the compound name, it’s supercritical versus not. Traditional foaming leaves large, uneven bubble cells that pack out fast. Supercritical processing forces gas through the solid polymer under pressure, producing millions of uniform micro-cells that stay springy and resist compression far longer. But producing supercritical foams requires more specialized equipment.

Next time you’re comparing two shoes, which matters more to you, the compound name or the actual ride? 👇

09/06/2026

We cut open the Under Armour Velociti Elite 3 to see exactly what’s happening underfoot.

Two layers of supercritical HOVR+ foam sandwich a full-length carbon plate, replacing the rubbery Flow layer that sat at the base of previous versions. The drop sits at just 2mm, a steep drop from the 8mm of earlier Velociti Elite models, built to push aggressive midfoot and forefoot strikers forward. Stack height comes in at 37.5mm heel / 35.5mm forefoot, with a Leno-weave upper on top and real rubber panels on the outsole for grip.

What do you want us to cut open next?

Salomon Running have got a complete trail lineup in 2026. With the new addition of the S/LAB Genesis 2 as their latest, ...
09/05/2026

Salomon Running have got a complete trail lineup in 2026. With the new addition of the S/LAB Genesis 2 as their latest, most versatile racer and trail shoe.

Everything from road to gravel runs with the Aero Blaze 4 GRVL to 100+ mile race days in the S/LAB Ultra Glide 2 can be handled with a shoe within the Salomon range.

Which one would you be adding to your lineup? 👇

09/04/2026

Altra spent two generations making a zero drop super shoe. The Vanish Carbon 3 isn’t one, and that changes who it works for.

Four millimetres is the difference between the heel and the forefoot, with 40mm of PEBA in the heel. That single spec is what kept the previous version off most runners’ shortlists, and it’s the reason a footstrike comparison is worth doing on this shoe specifically.

The plate is the other half of the story. Altra’s split-toe carbon design opens at the forefoot so the big toe can engage independently rather than the whole forefoot moving as one rigid unit, built around how the foot actually behaves through the stride rather than overriding it.

So we put all three strike patterns in front of the camera. This is a visual comparison, not a scientific measure of performance.

With how great the Vanish Carbon 3 felt for our reviewers, will you be racing in it? 👇

09/03/2026

At a glance these two shoes from seem completely different, however they are almost identical underfoot

Below the upper, the LightSpray Cloudboom Strike 2 and the standard Cloudboom Strike 2 are the same shoe. Identical CloudTec Sphere midsole geometry, identical Helion HF PEBA foam, identical curved carbon Speedboard. Everything On changed for race day sits above your foot, not under it.

The standard version runs a Lenoweave upper with conventional flat laces, coming in at 191g. The LightSpray version replaces all of it with a single continuous filament sprayed on by a robot, seamless, glueless and lace-free, dropping the weight to 158g.

That’s 33 grams less and roughly sixty dollars more for an upper. Alex rated the LightSpray version among his top race shoes of the year for how efficient it feels, though whether the difference justifies the gap is a decision only you can make on your own race calendar.

Pick your pair up now on top4running.com using code META at checkout for an extra 5% off. Click the link in our bio for more info.

*sponsored

09/03/2026

Heel, midfoot or forefoot. Does the Rossignol Vercors care where you land?

Most shoes answer that question with a rocker, rolling you forward whether your form asks for it or not. The Vercors doesn’t. Esther found it feels flatter than its 6mm drop suggests, with a forefoot that bends easily and no mechanical assistance built in. This is a shoe that asks you to run rather than one that runs for you.

Where it does get clever is underfoot. Lug placement, spacing and density are all tuned to different phases of the stride, so climbing traction, braking control and lateral stability each get their own zone as the foot rolls through.

We put all three strike patterns in front of the camera. This is a visual comparison only, not a scientific measure of performance, so take it as a look at how the shoe behaves rather than a verdict on which stride wins.

Where do you land, and does a flat, unassisted ride appeal or worry you? 👇

09/02/2026

Alex’s 30-second take on the Brooks Hyperion Max 4, Brooks’ max-cushioned uptempo shoe and the training companion to the Hyperion Elite 6.

45mm at the heel, 39mm at the forefoot, a 6mm drop, and 285g. The upper’s been revisited for a better, more precise fit, and the midsole stays on PEBA-based DNA Gold, dynamic underfoot with a lot of protection given the stack height. For Alex, the one knock is the weight, though at 285g it’s still light relative to other shoes running this much stack. His read on where it fits: a long run when you want to pick up the pace.

Would you take the extra cushioning at 285g, or trade it for something lighter? 👇

Meet the team in-front of the camera 👀 Alex, Josh and Thys make up our team of three presenters here at Meta Endurance p...
09/02/2026

Meet the team in-front of the camera 👀

Alex, Josh and Thys make up our team of three presenters here at Meta Endurance popping on and off camera to help spread their running knowledge on shoes, training techniques, fun facts, or just having a laugh!

With over 500 running shoes tested between them, and well over 10,000km run each year collectively, they’re sure to be able to help you find answers to the questions you may have.

Welcome to our community, what can we help you with today?

09/01/2026

A closer look at the Salomon S/LAB Genesis 2, now available at i-run.fr.

The rebuild runs a dual-density midsole, TPU-based in the forefoot for a springier, more durable feel and EVA through the rest, dropping the heel from 33mm to 31mm while holding the forefoot at 25mm, a 6mm offset down from 8mm on the original. Salomon says the wider platform increases ground contact by 23%. No plate here: Salomon points to its own research finding carbon plates gave no metabolic benefit on flat trail and cost roughly 2% more energy uphill, which is part of why the Genesis 2 stays plateless. Underneath sits a new ContaGRIP lug pattern at 4.5mm, and the upper moves to Matryx Micro, a fabric Salomon says is more durable than the original Matryx.

Available now on

Will the Genesis 2 match the popularity of the original Genesis?👇

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