Asics GT-2000 5 Review
Tim L · Feb 7, 2018
4/5
Overall
As a 51 year old runner in the Houston area, there are several months out of the year here that are extremely tough on shoes. Couple that with being a fairly heavy sweater and the strain on running shoe durability is pushed. As an every day trainer for the road, this shoe holds up reasonably well. I am a mild pronator with a midfoot strike. I have always run in the Asics GT series, going back to the 21xx series before that over the past couple of decades. I have no injury or biomechanical issues that I would attribute to the shoes. They are adequately cushioned, but not overly so. The tongue is also not excessively padded and holds its place very well. Previous models would start to see some wear through the upper in the big toe area, but with four different pair of the 5s, I have not seen this at all. The color schemes are okay for me; I don't get too wrapped up in aesthetics, though they did seem to trend towards darker colors in this model. Compared to the newly arriving model 6s, which look horrendous to me, I appreciate the mix that you can find on most of the model 5s.
I rotate through three pair in the summer as I will pretty much sweatlog a shoe in any run here longer than 30-40 minutes. Weekly mileage is 40-50 miles. I typically put on about 400 miles per pair. One thing I have noticed with the model 5s is some premature outer sole wear in the ball of the foot at around 300-350 miles. I have not noticed this in previous models. The sock liner wears pretty well considering how much sweat they take in and the strain placed on them. I remove the insoles after each run (year 'round) to allow both them and the shoes to completely air out and decompress. I have never used an off-the-shelf insole and the stock version seems to hold up well. They do tend to swell over time, probably from accumulation of salts from absorbing sweat. I literally will ring them out after most of my summer runs here, but there's only so much one can do.
I think the value for these shoes is excellent and runners younger than myself, and in less harsh climates, could extract more mileage out of these. Just keep an eye on the outer sole though. I will admit that I do not purchase these from a local running store, mainly because I've run in these models for so long, there's no need to mess with that. So the value is further increased through online purchase, though I always advocate people, especially new runners, visiting their LRS.
- Comfort
- 5/5
- Cushioning
- 4/5
- Durability
- 4/5
- Appearance
- 4/5
- Value
- 4/5
