Best For

The Saucony Endorphin Pro 3 is carrying the banner for road half marathon and marathon runners around the world in 2022. Many marathon racers opted for the Saucony Endorphin Pro 3 over the Nike Next% 2 in their racing shoe quiver for this calendar year of marathon racing. Saucony’s “Speedroll” design and brand new S-Curve carbon fiber plate is turning heads at starting/finish lines, and the finishing times are proving that out. Saucony appears to have struck a chord with very fast runners from every corner of the globe. PRs and PBs await you in the Endorphin Pro 3, especially at 6.7 oz in my size, a solid racing shoe weight for a CFP marathon road racing shoe. 

Upper

For hot weather racing, and especially in the humidity (think Florida), I would opt for this upper over any other carbon fiber plate racing shoe on the marketplace. Saucony really strove for high breathability in this third iteration, and they did not sacrifice a secure, lockdown feel in the process. With a semi-gusset toward the top of the tongue, the running shoe designers really nailed the reaction happening between the laces, eyelet chain, tongue, and heel counter. A very small detail that many marathon runners would not notice is the material choice for the heel counter and heel pocket. It is not smooth, and for good reason. The last experience a road marathon racer wants is heel slipping. The friction created between the sock and the heel counter is key, to ensure zero slipping through the toeoff. Any lost energy through each step is detrimental to overall performance of a marathon racer. Although I did have some heel hot spots in the testing, I’m not hearing many reports from other runners of this issue. 

Midsole

One word: SPECIAL. This lattice structure marathon road racing footbed of goodness is the closest competitor I have found to the world renowned Nike ZoomX foam. The official name of this bouncy and ultralight midsole foam is PWRRUN PB. This max stack of high-performance foam (39.5mm heel and 31.5mm in the forefoot) encases a new S-Curve carbon-fiber plate, that does not feel too rigid. Other marathon racing shoes from the past 2-3 years sometimes feel too stiff understep. In fact, they can feel so rigid that it almost makes the feet hurt, specifically the arches of the feet. Not the case for the Saucony Endorphin Pro 3, the tuning of this S-Curve carbon fiber plate is spot on. In addition to the carbon fiber plate, Saucony propels runners over the roads around the world with their Speedroll technology, which decreases the energy used in each leg swing through the gait cycle. Last point, the classic thumb test in the SHOEDIO throws the thumbs back at you. The bounce is real in the Saucony Endorphin Pro 3. 

Outsole

Carbon rubber meets the roads for marathon courses around the world. This type of rubber is resilient. Thankfully, Saucony was able to design this outsole with a very thin layer of the carbon rubber. Although most of the outsole is covered, I suspect the weight of the shoe has not increased tremendously because of this thin design approach. And just to make sure you believe Saucony’s claim to a carbon fiber plate inside the PWRRUN PB midsole foam, you’ll see with your own two eyes right through the outsole and midsole to that CFP. It’s a neat feature, so long as you don’t pick up a hitch hiker along the way, which I did not in the 50+ miles of road running testing. 

Would I Buy This Shoe Again?

Nike and Saucony appear to be taking the lead in the marathon road racing contest. That’s exciting! We runners need good competition in the running shoe marketplace. When a running shoe company sprints out to the lead in a particular shoe category, eventually the others will catch up. I’m not saying Saucony has completely caught up with Nike, afterall just look at the thousands of feet at your next marathon road racing starting line. Nevertheless, Saucony is making inroads, and I suspect the gap will continue to close in future iterations down the marathon racing road. 

Global Running Shoe Experience

Justin has put in 218 miles for his Saucony Endorphin Pro 3s. He expects to continue training in them past the 300 mile mark.