I have been meaning to post about this shoe for a while now, certainly before getting to 127.36 miles in them. It just might be the best zero drop trainer I have owned, becoming the shoe I am mostly likely to put on for a long run. On the other hand, they feel just a little too klutzy to me to race in.
I came to this shoe early this year after taking my annual 1 month break from running (subbing in elliptical) and looking to put a little more cush between my foot and the pavement for those winter runs outside. I had been running in some New Balance MR00s but my feet were still a bit achy from two fall marathons and the training leading up to them.
According to Mizuno, the shoe is named for Eudibamus Cursoris, one of the oldest known bipedal creatures. Of course Latin scholars will immediately know the meaning of this name: “original runner on two limbs.” Having viewed some artists’ conceptions, the little guy looks pretty speedy to me.
The shoe has a deceptively mainstream/traditional look to it, i.e., I bet most people wouldn’t even realize it’s a zero drop shoe. While I don’t buy shoes based on how they look (my first generation Instincts, for example), some have even uttered the phrase “cool shoes!”
I think the shiny material on the upper around the laces (click the pic for a larger image) was intended by Mizuno’s designers to look like dino skin, but I can’t prove that!
Billed as a true zero drop, you are sitting up on 12mm of cushioning. It’s noticeably more cushioned than the aforementioned MR00s, or the Altra Instincts I have been rotating with since the first of the year:
I am no running shoe terminology expert, but as you can see, the sole has a more durable black material in areas presumably identified as striking or takeoff points. A less durable orange material makes up the majority of the sole, including the heel area (where you shouldn’t be striking anyway, right?!) If you ask me, this little section just behind the exposed Wave plate could use the more durable material:
As to that Wave plate, I don’t notice or feel anything most of the time, but at one point in the second half of a recent long run I did have the distinct sensation that I was loading it up and feeling some compression and rebound.
The shoe isn’t exactly tearing itself up at 100+ miles. In fact I’d project it to be fairly durable despite the visible peeling in these pictures. I don’t foresee any problems getting the “traditional” 500 out of it, but then again I’m not pitching…err…donating shoes at 500 miles anymore.
I am someone who admittedly agonizes over shoe fit. Years ago, I used to dogmatically buy shoes in “my size.” Being older and wiser now, I’ll try on at least the half size up from “my size,” or down as the case may be (I recently bought some very oddly sized dress shoes that took me down a full size, creating a great deal of cognitive dissonance). This shoe convinced me to go a half size up. I really like its roomy toe box. I think I have the right size for me. However, I just can’t shake the feeling of a certain amount of clumsiness. I have run in other wide toe box zero drop shoes without this problem, notably the Instinct. For whatever reason, I seem to be magnetically attracted to at least one pavement heave per long run in the Cursoris, much to the amusement of passerby, no doubt. The shoe is light, but doesn’t “feel” fast, I think because there’s so much of it there. In saying that though I feel like I am asking the shoe to be something it is not. There is another shoe in this line, the Levitas, which is supposedly more geared towards speed, with the attendant sacrifices in cushioning. Perhaps I will give it a try at some point.
Update 05/22/13: These now have double the miles of when I wrote this review: 259.39. They’re still holding up well, with no signs of nearing the end of their useful life. I find myself going to this shoe almost exclusively for pavement training runs (my rotation in the last month has been these and barefoot). I still catch pavement heaves in them from time to time, but overall I’m very satisfied.
Update 06/13/14: I recently realized I haven’t run in this shoe for a few months (February, topping out at just over 550 miles, definitely with a few hundred left, barring some unforeseen catastrophic failure). When I wanted a cushioned trainer, the WEC was my go-to. However, ever since I got a pair of Skora FITs, at the end of February, I haven’t come back to the WEC. I liked the WEC, but it’s a testament to the FIT that we’re going steady now. My review of the FIT is here: