Review: Saucony Cortana

In my search for a new road shoe, I came across the Saucony Cortana.  I tried on just about every shoe at Rogue to try and find something I liked.  Its been a long time since I've had the freedom to choose any shoe I wanted (I was tied to Nike for several years due to work), so I went back and tried on some old favorites like the Glycerin and the Cumulus.  Now that I've put a lot of miles on the Cortanas, I feel like I can give an informed review.

This is the minimalist shoe for someone who doesn't want a minimalist shoe.  Sounds weird?  Let me explain.  These shoes only have a 4 mm heal-to-toe drop, but they have the feel of a trainer with some serious cushioning.  This shoe has a very soft ride, especially in the forefoot.  Its essentially a high-end, cushioned trainer that still promotes a more efficient stride (midfoot/forefoot striking).  Think about the comfort of an Asics Nimbus combined with the minimalist feature of a NB Minimus.

The Cortana has the classic Saucony last.  Think of a "V."  Its a little more narrow at the heel with a nice, roomy forefoot.  If you have narrow feet, there's a good chance your foot is going to slide around up front.  The upper is pretty breathable, which keeps your feet cool, especially if you live in Texas like I do.

There are a couple things I don't really like about the shoe.  I can definitely feel some extra friction under the ball of my foot, but that seems to be pretty common with the minimalist shoes I've tried out.  The price is another big negative.  At an MSRP of $145, it makes me think twice about purchasing this shoe every couple months during high mileage training.

If you use the Nike+ sensor or just want to store something small, each shoe has a pocket in the tongue, so that's a positive.  A completely useless, but kind of cool, feature is the logo on the tongue.  If you ever collected baseball cards, you'll remember Sportflics.  The logo has that same "motion," alternating between "Saucony" and "Cortana"

My conclusion:  Its a nice, soft ride that might be worth checking out of the price point was lower.  At $145, I can't justify this shoe being my regular trainer, especially when you can get a similar shoe like the Kinvara for about $90.  Another issue for me is the slow transition into a minimalist shoe.  I've been running into a lot of nagging injuries because of the minimalist shoes, and I'm a midfoot striker already.  I don't have the time or desire to make a full-time switch, especially since I've been mostly injury-free in regular shoes.  If you are already in a minimalist shoe and you are looking for more cushioning, it might be worth a look, assuming you've got a decent chunk of extra cash laying around.