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Shoe Review: Skechers GOrun 2

I haven’t been very secretive about my affinity with Skechers’ running shoes.  I liked the original GOrun and have really been enjoying the newer GOtrail (I have over 240 miles on my first pair and 40 miles on a second pair that I’m rotating in).  And although so far this year, I’ve run over 90% of my miles on trails, I am trying to spend some time on roads to work on leg speed and give my legs a bit of a break from the climbing.  With that goal in mind I got a pair of the new Skechers GOrun 2.  Of course, I bought them in the one of the flashiest color scheme available (they call it “red/lime” but it’s really more like fluorescent orange and neon yellow!):

Since I now have over 60 miles on two different pairs (more on that below) of the GOrun 2, it’s time to post a review!

In short, this is another Skechers shoe that I’m psyched to run in.  It meets just about everything I look for in a running shoe – it fits my feet really well, is lightweight and flexible, is low to the ground and has a 4mm heel-to-toe drop.  It’s hard for me to tell at this point, but if the original GOrun is any indication, both the upper and sole are going to be durable.  And, it comes in a ton of colors, including a few really striking ones.

The biggest difference between the original GOrun and the GOrun 2 is that the midfoot “bump” that was so pronounced in the original GOrun has been reduced in size and is barely noticeable at all in the update.  (I didn’t mind the bump and couldn’t feel it when I was running, but I know that it bothered some people.)  The other difference that I notice is that the shoe feels less boxy, which make it look and feel faster.  This might mean that its a little narrower than the original, but it doesn’t feel “narrow” to me.

Another improvement for me over the original GOrun is that the “GOimpulse sensors” (the little pods all throughout the sole) are a little less deep and spaced slightly further apart.

GOrun2:

GOrun:

Sorry they’re not from the same angle, but hopefully you can see the difference, especially around the midfoot.  When running on dirt or gravel in the GOrun, the soles collected pebbles, which made it a non-starter for off-road running. The configuration and size of the sensors in the GOrun 2 means that it doesn’t pick up as many rocks and the ones that are collected don’t stay.  I still wouldn’t take these shoes on any technical trails, but for some mild off-road fireroads or dirt trails, they’d be totally fine.

My only complaint so far about the GOrun 2 is the removable insole.  It’s super thin entirely unstructured and I’m not sure what role it plays (other than just to be there because that’s what most shoes have).  The GOtrail doesn’t have an insole at all.  The problem with the GOrun 2 insole is that because it’s so unstructured, it slips around a little bit.  In my first pair, it got so bad that after about 25 miles, it settled about a quarter inch back from the toe, which meant it bunched up at the heel and left a small space in front where my toes hung off the insole.  It’s not a huge space but I could feel it and it was annoying.  I brought the shoes into a Skechers store to ask if they had any replacement insoles.  They didn’t, but they took that pair back as a “defect” and gave me a brand new pair of shoes!  Again, after about 25 miles, one shoe in the second pair is having the same problem.  You  can see in the photos below the bunching up of the left insole.  I’ll just use the shoes without the insoles, which I haven’t tried yet, but should be fine.  Nevertheless, it’s something for wearers to be cognizant of and hopefully something Skechers will fix in the future.

EDIT March 5, 2013:  After posting this review, I got an email from some people at Skechers Performance Division.  They said they’re working on a fix for the insole and suggested using the shoes without it.  I’ve been running without the insole for a couple weeks and don’t miss it at all.  More information in this blog post.

So far, I haven’t run longer than 12 miles in the GOrun 2.  But I don’t see any reason at all why this couldn’t be a marathon (or longer) shoe.  Even though it’s lightweight and somewhat “minimal” in construction, there is enough cushion throughout the sole for longer runs.

Despite some disappointing false advertising in the Skechers Super Bowl commercial (I couldn’t even catch a fleeing mountain lion the other day), I really dig these shoes.

For another review and some interesting information about the development of the GOrun 2 check out Peter Larson’s review on his Runblogger website.