Completely stuck on what to buy!
As the title suggests, I am completely stuck on what shoe to buy after too many hours of research.
For some context: I just completed a half marathon in a decent time of 1:56 in some Hoka Arahi 7’s but my feet were destroyed. Many blisters and black toenails, too narrow I believe and I have seen this feedback elsewhere.
Currently training for an Olympic triathlon in August, then a half marathon in December and marathon in May 2027.
I do over pronate (not drastically) but don’t want a full stability shoe, would like to build the ankle and leg strength naturally.
I want a trainer that can ideally do it all, including race up to a half marathon distance. My current triathlon mpw is ~20km so not a lot.
I am however a relative beginner, not having done a lot of running/ training for the half (only did 50km in training).
Looking at the saucony ride 18 or is something else better?
Do I need a ‘super trainer’ to aid race pace? Looked at the zoomfly 6 as something that could give me race pace but also do training runs.
I am just rather stuck, and the more I research the deeper the rabbit hole goes… massive thanks in advance!
Apologies it’s a long post.
I’ll mention this now as I’m sure it will be suggested, the novablast 5 felt too soft! Like it would allow my ankle to roll.
Posted May 12, 2026, 8:27 AM UTC