NOVABLAST 5

ASICS novablast 5 have been my best purchase.

I'm a fellow fan of the firmness of the 4s and I did find the 5s to be a lot softer. Mine also bottomed out after only like 200 miles. I'm 175 and a lot of people my weight and higher have reported the same thing. Personally I just bought 2 more pairs of 4s to hold me over until something else I like crops up. If you don't want to do that, Superblasts are probably the move though.

Literally any modern shoe you buy is probably going to feel like a Cadillac on your feet compared to Nike Frees. If you like that lower stack kinda ground feel I’d look at something like the Pegasus or the brooks hyperion. If you want something with a little bit more underfoot without being bulky I’d look at the asics Novablast 5, Vomero Plus, Saucony ride or Saucony Triumph.

I'm 6'1, 140 lbs and a forefoot striker and while our weights are different, I feel the road and have similar expectations and experiences to you. Personally, I rotate between the Novablast 5 for my high effort runs and use the Nimbus 27 for everything else, I find it works really well for me as a two shoe rotation.

Mine kicked the dirt at about 430km ish, and I’m 150lbs 6’1

True. Recovery runs with tempo over 5min/km. With their low energy return they would make you tired a lot faster than lighter more snappy shoes like for example Novablast 5 (which are also softer than Nimbus 27)

I've been running properly for the last year and a bit and looking to replace my Novablast 5s as my easy run shoe. They've been fine, nothing special, and are starting to feel flat and looking for something new/fun. In the middle of my first marathon training block with 2 easy runs a week between 8km-16km. Currently using Novablast 5 for easy run. Endorphin speed 4 for intervals and tempos. Boston 13 for long runs and Endorphin Pro 4 for race day 5'9", 165lbs, HM PB: 1:33:35, 10k PB: 40:28, 5k PB: 19:11. Any suggestion appreciated and welcomed!

Not looking for anything in particular in terms of specifics just some suggestions or recommendations of what other people like or have used. I'm open to anything as the Novablast was my first proper running shoe. It was a good shoe, not amazing but not awful. It was pretty bouncy for the first 100km but after that it became fairly ordinary

Or people actually run in the shoe and find it a nice shoe, like me. The novablast 5 is my favorite daily running shoe. nothing fancy, a little bit boring, just fine for what it's intention.