 to the other end so and down here we've got the Skechers Razor III from once again from 2000. Oh boy everybody I feel like St. Nicholas a big bag of marathon racing shoes right here. Okay thank you for your patience. I know a lot of you've been waiting for my decision on what shoes I will be racing in at the Amsterdam Marathon. I'm going to lay them all out here and there's a lot of options out there. At a lot of different price points as well that's a huge factor so let's lay them all out here for you. We're going to start with the Nike Vaporfly 4% Flyknit from 2018 New Balance Fuel Cell Rebel. We've got the Nike Zoom Flyknit and I realize some shoes are better options than others but I just want to show you everything. We've got the Hoka Carbon X. I want to show you everything okay and yes we even got the Hoka Carbon Rocket. There we go. Let me just spread these out a little bit. Hold on. I'm going to move down to the other end so and down here we've got the Skechers Razor III from once again from 2018. Let's see what else do we got? Oh oh here's one. Oh an oldie buddy goodie. I think the Adios 4 but just so everybody knows the Adios 5 just came out. So this is again 2018 and then of course the big bad dog that all of you have probably been waiting for the Nike next percent. There it is the fast one. I better put this one down here next to it's a big or I should say little brother so I am I'm struggling. Let me just run you through all these real quick. Skechers Razor III this is more of a trainer but I think you could run a marathon in it especially at the price point that now again these some of these shoes are from 2018 so there are updated versions now that you can purchase for example the Razor III but I really love this shoe for 20 mile long runs last year in 2018 so anyway it's an option. Now the Adios 4 as you probably know Nike and Adidas are the two leading companies in the world for marathon racing shoes so don't count out Adidas in the discussion. A lot of the elites in London and Berlin I should say Berlin this weekend and then Chicago in two weeks from then and then in Amsterdam a lot of them will be in Adidas. Not necessarily the Adios lineup but it is an option out there for some people yeah for some people. Okay moving on next percent oh don't have to say much about this Kipchoge will be wearing this shoe in Vienna I don't know about the upper it sounds like it might be the Flyknit but I heard that Mo Farah at the Great North Run in in the UK he wore the next percent with the Flyknit upper so fascinating um yeah I'll come back to the next percent in a second and then the Vaporfly for this this shoe has a very special place in my heart for a lot of different reasons I guess first of all this is the shoe I wore in 2018 when the channel started to grow because a lot of you out there were searching for more information about this shoe so I love the Nike Vaporfly 4 flying it a great option and then moving on to the New Balance Fuel Cell Rebel I think New Balance is pushing the envelope forward with this fuel cell lineup it has that little teeny tiny plate there you can see it there in the outsole that little dark blue spot so I don't know um for the price point I think I think you're looking at $130 maybe 140 that is not bad for the fuel cell rebel and then moving on to another Nike the Nike Zoonfly Flyknit this is the React Foam through the midsole a little definitely heavier than the other two Nike options but if you're looking for a shoe that's gonna get the job done it's not the lightest shoe on the market still has a carbon fiber plate in that midsole boom and you and you want to save a few bucks this is a good option okay and last but not least the two Hoka shoes so um I when I gave my full review of the carbon rocket I said that this is a 10k and half marathon shoe which I still am gonna stick with that but um if you want a shoe that has a little more ground contact feel and uh yeah a little more ground cut it's a it's a firmer landing than basically all the other options that I showed you except for the audio sfor from Adidas it actually I would put it in the category of the audio sfor as far as feel through that midsole um I'm still gonna say it's a 10 it's a 10 mile half marathon 10k shoe from Hoka and then the Hoka Carbon X the 50 mile world record holder wore this shoe Jim Wamsley I like it it's got good bounce I wore it in my 24 mile long run yesterday um so there it is there's a line up all the marathon let me just run you through them one more time this is these are all the shoes that I would consider for the Amsterdam marathon in uh in three and a half weeks three and a half weeks so we got the Skechers razor three adidas audio sfor Nike next percent Nike vapor fly four percent flying it new balanced fuel cell rebel Nike zoom fly flying it Hoka Carbon X and Hoka Carbon rocket so there you go I am uh I'm excited about my options I definitely will choose one of these and we're gonna go back to the studio uh right now and I'm gonna give you my thoughts on three shoes in particular that are in the final in the final run in fact I'll just tell them to you right now okay so we're gonna eliminate we're gonna eliminate the razor three gets drawn back the audio sfor gets drawn back the next percent ah just kidding just kidding next percent stays uh the new balance fuel cell rebel gets drawn back the zoom fly flying it and the Hoka Carbon rocket so therefore this slides down here they are the three finalists for the Amsterdam marathon not too shabby the marathon racing shoe decision 2019 here we go Hoka Carbon X Nike next percent Nike vapor fly four percent flying it so you're probably wondering Seth why isn't the Carbon X sitting up here it's because it's getting the cut that's right the first shoe to be cut out of the top three is the Carbon X and I'll tell you why right now it's the weight that's all this shoe is gonna slim down in the next iteration in 2020 I guarantee it it's about an ounce too heavy right now to really compete with these two Nike shoes Hoka though you're moving in the right direction with the Hoka Carbon X I cannot wait for your 2020 iteration of this shoe uh so stay tuned I'm hoping for good things in 2020 but for right now the only reason uh like it's nice ride good cushion I feel bouncy and springy in the shoe after the 24 mile long run yesterday in the Carbon X felt great but again it's just a smidge too heavy for the Amsterdam marathon okay there we go so that leaves us with two to go the vapor fly and the next percent now this is not an official comparison video between these two shoes I have to point out a couple of things just to help tell the story paint the picture for all of you the biggest difference absolutely is the upper I mean there's there's certainly differences between the midsole as well it's got that zoom X midsole in both shoes the carbon fiber plate in both shoes different outsole pattern you see it there on your screen right now definitely a different outsole pattern I might give a thought on that in a minute but definitely you know that that flying it upper and the vapor weave upper now I said this I'm gonna do my best to try and find this clip from July of 2019 where I said this about the vapor weave upper and it's very lightweight very malleable in fact when I was lacing up today I just was thinking huh I'm a little confused as to why it's scrunching up so much through the toe box and at the at the bottom of the eyelid chain there you have it that was my first impression of the vapor weave upper material coming right out of the box taking it out for the first run and I actually think that I nailed it I wasn't that far off base because I'm reading and listening to some other people out there talk about this vapor weave and I don't know if everyone is sold or all in in person like the fact that Mo Farah the best long distance runner right now from Great Britain he um he he he raced in the flying it on not the vapor weave at that great north run as I already mentioned so anyway right now I'll just I'm just gonna here it comes here it comes little drum roll please little drum roll if I had to wake up in the Netherlands tomorrow morning if I was in my hotel right now making a decision uh getting ready for Amsterdam tomorrow morning and I had to choose one of these shoes for my racer at the 2019 Amsterdam Marathon yeah you better believe it it's the Nike vapor fly four percent flying it can you believe it can you believe it it's not the Nike next percent now let me explain myself kind of air it out a little bit uh first of all I just have to say that this shoe feels like I'm at home in the shoe it feels very familiar very comfortable it's not uh it's not foreign to me when I put it on that flying it upper even the feel of the midsole so here are my three or four points as to why if I had to choose tonight for Amsterdam tomorrow I would go with this shoe point number one the as I already mentioned the flying it feels so much more at home I feel a better lockdown in the flying it versus the vapor vapor weave and I remember in my first impression vlog up a right hand corner if you want to go watch it I remember saying that the scrunching up through the toe box of that vapor weave material I didn't like it I don't I still don't like it um so that's point number one so point number two I'm getting some rubbing through the heel counter so this is the heel counter right here at the back of the shoe where your Achilles tendon uh connects to your your heel see that little piece of material that black right there I don't know if you can see it hopefully I can get a zoomed in shot of that it's a little piece of padding to basically help lock your heel into the shoe because the vapor weave material is so thin they have to they basically have to put that piece of material in there to lock your heel in and give you a little bit of uh reprie like you would get such a bad blister if that wasn't there rubbing against this vapor weave material the green part so I'm not loving the feel of that black material that little cushion there at the back and right now I am suffering from a few blisters at the back of my heel the on my Achilles tendon I'm hoping to clear that up as soon as possible but I'm training at high levels right now so it's a little difficult to do that so right now I don't like the feel and frankly today taking the uh the fly net the vapor fly four percent flying it back out I did not feel the blisters at all today through this upper at all at all at all I I don't know what else to tell you like that's a huge issue for me right now so I am very very bullish on this upper right through the heel counter right now compared to the heel counter on the next percent and point number three it's kind of a couple points I'll wrap it into one though is that the next percent feels so it's it's a little lighter okay I'm gonna put the weight on your screen right now both shoes same size you see it on your screen right now so it is a little lighter ever ever so slightly but here's the deal it feels like and I said this in my first impression blog it feels like the next percent it feels like I'm wearing boats on the bottom of my feet the stack height is so tall and the the landing area is just a little wider than the than the vapor fly four percent that it feels like I have I don't want to say clown shoes but it feels like I have boats on my feet it almost feels like they're not as aerodynamic as the four percent and last point is that I feel like the next percent is in charge of me rather than me being in charge of the shoe in the four percent I feel in charge of the shoe okay I feel in charge when I'm wearing this shoe like I'm in control I'm moving forward everyone isn't this crazy so last point is that tomorrow morning when you're watching this actually I'm gonna be doing my first threshold run leading into Amsterdam you better believe I'm taking out the next the vapor fly four percent flying it for a threshold run meaning fast so I'm gonna solidify my opinion that this is the shoe for Amsterdam for me right now this is my shoe I really I don't think it's gonna change I'm really saying that it kind of is shocking to me I will take the next percent out for some more runs but again it just feels too bulky I'm not in love with the upper um that is that and just little put a little pepper and salt on top the world record is still held held in the four percent now maybe in about 10 to 12 days or no one is it about 15 days from now we're gonna see a new world record in the next percent midsole again I'm not sure if Kipchoge is doing the next percent with the vapor with the flying it upper but at least at this point as of the date of this recording this shoe still holds the world record for the marathon so I'm just putting that out there to add a little spice add a little pizzazz to today's vlog so I love you guys question keyword flying it keyword flying it and that question of the day you better believe it what is your next marathon race what shoe are you wearing for your next marathon I can't believe I'm saying this I'm telling you everybody I put this shoe on again today it's been a little while it felt so at home I felt in control I felt like I was ready to go rock and roll frankly and that I was in control not the shoe I love you all thank you for being here thank you for watching thanks for just rocking and rolling and live but boom we're getting closer we're getting closer all right we're going to throw it back to a couple old vlogs of course the first impression of the next percent will be on the right and then a big workout I did oh gosh was it nine months ago in the vapor fly four percent flying it on the right I do believe all right everyone love you all see beauty work hard and love each other see you tomorrow