XiaoNian

Retired at 1,000 km with almost no damage and still bouncier than many rivals; upper only average.

“The durability of this shoe is crazy. As you can see from the picture, there is basically zero damange to the upper or the midsole.”

Feels almost new at 1,000 km; stable and versatile for long runs, tempos and easy days.

“At 1000km this shoe feels almost new to me. I will easily get them to 1500km. It's the best shoe I had in a while.”

Hasn't wanted to run in anything else; any pace feels effortless.

“to me these are the next coming of jesus. I haven't wanted to run in anything else since putting them on”

140 km: narrow in the midfoot, unstable, and legs feel bad the next day.

“Done about 140km in my pair, find them fairly narrow in the midfoot so I’ve always struggled taking them out much longer than 10/12k runs.”

Sold after one run: the arch was too high for flat feet.

“I was so excited and was so disappointed. I sold them after 1 run.”

Excels from easy to threshold; slight loss of bounce at 400 km.

“I find the xiaonian excel pretty much throughout this pace range.”

After three pairs of Novablast 5 they find the XiaoNian foam lasts much longer and is much firmer.

“the foam on the xiaonian lasts much longer and is much firmer then the NB5”

Gives them their lowest heart rate on easy runs, about a minute per km faster at the same heart rate than other daily shoes.

“The xiaonian actually gives me the lowest hr when doing easy runs.”

Ran a first marathon (4:49) and a 54-minute 10k in them; just as comfortable at the end as the start, no blisters.

“But I ran in them for almost 5 hours and they were just as comfortable at the end as at the start, no blisters, no complaints.”

Less stable than the Megablast but a much better upper and a geometry that suits their gait better.

“I think the megablast is more stable, but the dynafish has a much better upper and a better geometry for my gait.”

Has been their one-shoe rotation and is hard to beat.

“Hard to beat that Xiaonian. Its been my one shoe rotation.”

Prefers it (or the Red Hare 9 Ultra) for proper marathon-training long runs.

“For proper marathon training long runs I prefer the Dynafish Xiaonian or the red hare 9 ultra.”

A 20-mile negative-split long run straight out of the box: light, comfortable, bouncy with no foam fatigue, true to size; insanely good for $130.

“I'm happy to report the Dyna Super was a dream to run in.”