Review on Saucony Men'S Endorphin Speed 2 Running Shoe by Jerry Mangum

I've been running for almost 30 years; the experience I had with these shoes was a first.I have slight pronation on my left foot, but a good pair of running shoes (New Balance 880 or 1080 was my go-to for years) more than accounted for this quirk and made my feet comfortable.I decided to try these Sauconys after my old pair was thrashed. Upon receiving them, my first thought was how incredibly light they were - easily HALF the weight of my normal running shoes. But they looked cheap; the sole is very obviously recycled styrofoam, and the upper is a thin lycra-like material. The sort of flimsy quality that makes you feel as if you have to be careful lacing them up, because if you pulled too tight, the laces feel as though they would rip the eyelets.When I put them on, I felt immediately unbalanced. I'm used to a period of adjustment with new running shoes, so I didn't think much of it, but my first day running with them, I noticed how "off" the support in the left sole was: I felt as though the outer edge of my foot was SIGNIFICANTLY higher than the inner edge, as if I was barefoot standing with my foot half-on, half-off of a curb. The effect was to make my left foot buckle inward at the ankle; I kept trying to adjust my foot in the shoe, thinking the problem was with me. By the end of my run, my feet (mostly the left but also the right, as I had to tense up and compensate to maintain balance) were BURNING. I'd never felt this sensation before; usually the struggle during a run is with maintaining your wind and breathing, but the pain made me entirely focused on my feet.Still, I tried to persist. I thought perhaps I had to "get used" to the shoes, so I tried running in them twice more, which in retrospect was probably not the best idea, but they were expensive and I had thrown away my previous pair so I didn't have much of a choice.Two more days of running, two more days of BURNING pain. To maintain balance, muscles that aren't normally stressed have to tense up to such a degree that it feels as if a charley horse is imminent. Frankly, even WALKING in the shoes is uncomfortable; I kept tapping the side of my shoe on the ground to try and re-orient my foot inside of it, but it became apparent that the problem wasn't my slight pronation, or a needed period of adjustment: the shoes are simply badly designed.I learned my lesson: I'm going back to New Balance. I'm actually SHOCKED that Saucony can sell such a shoddy piece of craftsmanship, both in terms of clearly flawed support engineering AND cheap materials.I'm in the process of returning the shoes as we speak. Do yourself a favor and DON'T BUY THESE SHOES.