Brooks Green Silence Review

These are some happy feet!

I love, love, love these shoes. Did I mention that I loved these shoes. There is nothing that I dislike about them. Well, there is one thing I don't like about them but it is very minor. The shoelaces are hard to keep tied, even if you double knot them. I know that most reviews start with something subjective about the product, but I just can't help it. These shoes make my feet happy!  I have had a chance to run in these shoes for a while now. I have put over 100 miles on them now and feel comfortable enough to give them a review. I chose these shoes because I wanted to start transitioning into less of a shoe. Man does that ever sound weird, well anyway on with the review.

To start things off I have to say that of all the features and innovations that these shoes bring to the table. Most of the things listed in the picture below I couldn't care less about, as I am not a huge enviro freak. That being said, I do find it very cool that Brooks has taken to heart and found ways to reuse some the most commonly tossed items from our daily lives and used them create a totally kick ass shoe.

This is an insert that comes in the box.

If you want to read more about Brooks environmental innovations you can click on the picture to the right to enlarge or you can visit their Green Silence info page.  As for the features that I was most interested I will go over them now, and give you an overview as to what pushed me in this direction. 

When I started out looking for new shoes I was having issues with my knees and feet. Most of which I thought was shoe related. As it would turn out part of it would be shoe related. However,  most of the problems I was having were caused by bio-mechanical and muscular inefficiencies.  That is neither here nor there, but it did influence my shoe choice to some degree. At the time I was researching natural and barefoot running, and I felt that I could really benefit from a more minimal shoe.  I actually purchased another pair of shoes along with these that I was planning on using as everyday trainers and these were to be reserved for speed and interval work. In other words the short workouts and races. I was to find out soon enough that the more I ran in the Green Silence the less my knee hurt during and after my running workouts. This reason alone was enough to make these MY everyday running shoe, and the way these shoes were designed and the features that eventually sold me on the shoe explain why they helped some of my problems.

One of the features that I was looking for was a lighter and more flexible shoe to allow my foot to function more naturally. The Brooks Green Silence weighs in a just 6.9oz per shoe and the BioMoGo mid sole coupled along with the softer out sole make these shoe fairly flexible for a traditional racing flat. You may be asking yourself, "If they have a soft outsole won't they wear out fast?" The answer is not that I can tell. As I said earlier in the review I had over 100 miles on them, and they seem to be wearing the same or a little bit better than the other shoes that I have run in.  Another feature that I was looking for was a near flat heel to toe offset. These being racing flats fit that bill to a tee. While they are not flat they only have an offset of 4-5mm, which was perfect for me as these were to be transition shoes. Some other features I was looking for were breath-ability, decent cushioning, and the ability to control the way the shoe supported my foot. Being that this is a pretty minimal shoe it was perfect for being very breathable as you can practically see through the sides. For the cushioning and foot support Brooks added more BioMoGo and used it to make a fully biodegradable sockliner which is very comfortable.   As for the ability to be able to control the fit of the shoe the unique lacing system takes care of your foot support very effectively.

In closing for a shoe that was supposed to be an off day run shoe, and an occasional mid length runner it has far exceeded my expectations and become my go to everyday shoe. In fact, I have completed all of my long training runs, daily miles, and plan on having this shoe carry me across the finish line of my first marathon later this month and my first ultra marathon in early December. I don't think that there is anything else I can really say about this shoe, but the Brooks slogan comes to mind and sums up my feeling about the shoe. "Run Happy".