How does that Proclaimers song go?
“And I would walk 500 kms”? Kind of, but I now use the metric system
“And I would walk 500 more”? No way! 500km max!
Right, first things first, don’t expect this to be a Kinvara shoe review. Spoiler alert; I love them.
Well, actually I like version 10 a lot but not sure it has been love with this iteration. I save that for version 8 (and maybe 9). Yep, that is right, I am not a Kinvara OG lover, and in fact I don’t like the styling nod the v10 makes to the OG with that weird diamond shape on the heel. I am glad they got rid of the Pro-Lock though
I do love the feel and improvements made to the v10 upper and if it wasn’t for the v8/v9 midsole I would indeed love it best of all.
I knew I would enjoy and use fully any Kinvara to be fair, so much so, that I immediately bought two pairs in different colours with an intentional idea of wearing different colours on each foot. In this case I wore the grey on the left and the red (orangey?) on the Right. I figured, why not be a bit quirky for fun. I don’t run for fashion (hahaha, absolutely not!), I run for running.
With the Kinvara, I use it for everything; speed work, easy paced runs and epic long ones. If I had to choose one running shoe for everything, it would be this shoe.
But I don’t get as much use out of it before I stop using.
The general recommendation is 500-800km. But with the Kinvaras I limit myself to between 400 and 500km. The reason being that I am a heavier runner. At my current weight (90kg) I get around 450-500km. I don’t like to risk any more than that. I have had a few injuries/niggles in the past due to using a shoe for too long. (As reference, with the UltraBoost I get 1000km. It just lasts and lasts!).
So I have 450km done in my Grey Left, Red/Orange Right combo and I thought.. hang on. I can compare EXACTLY the same pair as a before and after scenario. I can also compare if the colour makes a difference? (maybe colouring the midsole impacts longevity?)
I think running shoe reviewers need to make sure their readers know what type of runner they are, as I know superlight runners who get twice the distance out of a shoe as me. So with that in mind, I am 90kg, I used the Kinvaras as my go to speed work shoe (4:00/km) and long run shoe (up to 42km at 5:10/km). I am a rear foot striker for slower days and mid foot as the speed picks up, so this shoe sees me doing it all. I run in neutral shoes only and levitate towards shoes that are flexible (usually).
I will let the photos speak in the main part for themselves, but here are my highlights that the photos don’t all pick up.
Anyway.. I think it is a fascinating chance to compare the real difference between used and unused