Honestly, yes. If you like late 2000s wave riders, check out shoes that currently are classified as having more road feel. For narrow feet, try the Puma Velocity Nitro 4. For wider feet, try the Craft Endurance, or the Craft Pacer 2. A favourite of the sub is also the Adidas Evo SL.
As for the reason: the foams on those are incredible compared to the wave riders. Comfy, good energy return, durable.
You’ll find that every brand’s wide sizes are wide in different places. Stores typically don’t carry a lot of wide sizes, so be prepared to order a bunch of shoes to try on and return most of them.
I have a duck-shaped foot (normal heel and midfoot, very wide forefoot), so I’ll give you what’s worked and not for me.
My rotation:
- Mizuno Wave Rider 2E - higher drop but specifically made with a normal heel and wide forefoot (I’ve been told I have a Mizuno-shaped foot).
- Topo Athletic Ultrafly Wide - I’m on my second pair. Love this shoe. Had to get it in a wide size since the midfoot runs a little narrow, but their regular width shoes are plenty wide in the toebox.
- Hoka Speedgoat 4 2E (half-size up) - My trail runners. Love them so much I bought 3 pairs. They got way narrower with subsequent generations so I don’t know what I’ll do in another 300 miles.
Saucony Peregrine wide - My other trail runners. Saucony used to make wide shoes for brick-shaped feet, but their newer shoes fit my duckfoot way better.
Shoes I returned:
- Altra everything - I am used to zero-drop shoes, so that didn’t bother me. But their rubber just goes dead two miles into my runs, and it felt like running barefoot. If you want wide toebox, Topo is a better run IMO
- Hoka Clifton - Not wide enough. Hoka has wide sizes, but the shoes run narrow so a 2E is more like a generous D. I occasionally run in 4E Bondis, but they’re a little too max-cushioned for me.
- On Cloud something - they have one 2E shoe but they run really narrow. Returned them instantly.
- Brooks Ghost - They got really narrow, even in a wide, which is a shame, because I wore out some Ghosts back in the day.
One more note:
- ASICS and New Balance make several models in wide sizes. Haven’t ran in them, but I appreciate having options.
Mizuno wave rider in green/sage looks pretty good. Stable. Not the most exciting shoe and not for front foot strikers, but otherwise a pretty good shoe
I have a few pairs of mizuno wave riders that absolutely refuse to die and every time I think I should probably retire them I go for a run in them and they still feel fine.
Not many people ever seem to recommend them but one of my favourite long run, comfortable, not racy shoes that just never die and take a pounding are Mizuno Waveriders.
I agree. I own a pair of Mizuno Waves and they are just old fashioned workhorses. I mix them in with a variety of stack height type shoes, but compared to all the newer type shoes, the Mizunos are far more durable. I currently have 300 miles on mine and I'm convinced they will easily get a couple hundred more. They seem like new still. Boring, no frills, and I wouldn't lace them up for a race. But for easy long runs, they are extremely reliable.
ProfessorNoPuede
