Brad Hall-Style Photo of the Sneaker on the Author’s Foot
I’ll start here by saying that I wanted the Alphafly 3’s but Nike sold out of the entire men’s sizes before I had time to cop, and have been out of stock since, with no word on when they will be restocked. Maybe it has something to do with this; unclear. So I rolled the dice on the above pictured Vaporfly 3’s. I’m happy to report that I have been pleasantly surprised with how much I enjoy them.
There are a couple of notable upgrades since the last iteration. The two that I appreciate the most are the off-center heel seam, and tongue. In all of the former iterations I have owned, the seam on the heel has come up to a pointed shape, perfectly centered, that would rub my directly on my Achilles (often drawing blood) if my sock would slip down at all. The tongue on the old one was not as big of an issue, but I noticed that it would slide over to the side occasionally. Both of these mishaps appear to have been solved with the new design.
While the performance aspect isn’t totally on par with the Alphafly, the Vaporfly are less obnoxious looking, and they aren’t so loud/awkward to walk around in. When I say “loud” here, rather than referring to the blinding colorway, I’m talking about the actual audible noise they make when walking in them. The Alphafly sounds like someone walking around in a pair of moon boots, the Vaporfly, much less so. The out sole on the Vaporfly also seems like it will probably last a bit longer than the ones on the Alphafly. I have only run in them a handful of times, to-date, including one time in wet conditions. Each time out has been 10k or more and my feet have been totally happy even with no official break-in. Hoping for a many more solid miles out of these guys.
A few additional snaps–
The skin on my Achilles tendon is really appreciating this new off-center seam.
The out sole definitely seems a bit less sticky than the Alphafly. But feels like it will also last longer.