Encintas, CA
Mumbai Marathon
The Mumbai Marathon was held on January 19, 2025 in Mumbai, India. Imagine running a marathon while breathing through a straw. The air quality in Mumbai is notoriously poor. In the big cities in the USA when air quality gets below a certain level they warn people not to spend time outside. In Mumbai that would be almost daily. The 9,500 runners who finished the race not only ran a marathon in Mumbai. Many if not most of the runners live and do their training in Mumbai too! It was an amazing thing to witness. Like most marathons there were runners struggling under the distance but most of the runners ran with huge smiles on their face.
The only major difference in the shoes worn was the number of runners running without shoes. A much higher percentage in Mumbai vs the rest of the world. Other than that, there are brands that thrive in this market, and brands that barely exist too. The biggest surprise came from Puma. They finished above Hoka, New Balance and On.
Dubai Marathon and 10K
Beautiful weather and moderate temperatures greeted the many runners in Dubai on the first weekend of the New Year. There were fast times at the front and a runner from the UK testing out her race fitness in the 10K after more than a year away due to injury. A runner wearing the latest Li Ning super shoe was the male winner on the day. The next two spots for men and the first two stops for women were wearing adidas. Two in the adios Pro Evo 1, One running in the adios Pro 4 and one runner in the adios Pro 3. The third place woman had the Alpha Fly Next % 3 on her feet. The big mover in both races was On. In the marathon it was their race day shoes and the Monster leading the way. In the 10K it was mostly running shoes by name but not function.
Looking to February
We have two races in February. The first is in Riyad, Saudi Arabia. We'll be able to compare the results to Dubai. In that race we will capture the Marathon and Half Marathon as both races start and finish in the same place. The second race is the always fast Seville Marathon in Spain. There we should see the new super shoes for the first time on every day runners. The Cielo X1 2.0 is set to launch soon as to is the Endorphin Elite 2. Both shoes promise to be an improvement over the first versions. The Cielo X has a new midsole design and upper both taking an ounce out of the shoes. The new midsole looks like it will appeal more to racing and less to training like the first version. The Endorphin Elite 2 looks like a very special shoe. When runners compare a shoe in fit feel and performance to the Alpha Fly Next %3 you know there is something there. Maybe we'll see the Endorphin Elite take over the top spot for Saucony and if so it means share increases. Finally we have a new shoe from Nike, the Pegasus Premium. In every event done there is a race between the Nike Infinity and the Nike Invincible. The shoes are always close in number but nowhere close to the competition. We'll start to see if the Pegasus name helps draw more runners to this max cushion shoe. With the Pegasus Premium surpass the numbers from the Invincible and Infinity?
