Brooks Levitate

I had been waiting for the Brooks Levitate to come out because they have content from co-workers at BASF.  More on shoe design here and here.

I was happy to see that Brooks stepped up the styling for Levitate especially in the Black and Gray color.  I was surprised to see a metallic coating over the midsole. The metallic looks good and shows of the angles of the midsole, like it does on an automobile.

I don't buy running shoes for looks, but after they wear out as running shoes, I will wear them as casual shoes, and the appearance is more important then.

Levitate has a showy metallic coating on the midsole. 

You can see it has knit upper, and the darker part has a coating to stiffen it. The knit upper is soft and comfortable. I had no issue with it binding too tight on my bunion. 

The outsole has this chevron pattern, and I imagine it is for rain and trial running. Often Brook's shoes have a horseshoe pattern, as in the Launch. The horseshoe pattern is supposed to help with heel spurs. Happily I don't have any heel spurs. 🤞

I got a size eleven which had a large toe box, and plenty of room. Maybe a 10.5 would have worked. I wear an eleven in my Brooks Glycerin and a 10.5 in the Launch.  

A size eleven shoe weighed 368 grams. This is heavier than the Brooks Glycerin 15's at 338, the Ghost 9's at 335 and the Launch at 292g. My Adidas Pure Boost is 331, and the Nike Pegasus is 311g. I think these shoes are heavier because they will last longer. 

I took these out for a ten mile run this morning. They were comfortable for the whole run even through the shoes were new. The sole was firm and seemed to grip the road well. I was trying to gauge the energy return, and I can say they are a bit stiff but still comfortable. 

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