Shoe Review Tuesday #3 (Nike LunarEclipse)

Nike LunarEclipse

Support Category: Neutral to Moderate Stability
Weight: 12.2 oz
Cost: $130
Available in Widths: Yes
Multiple Colors Available: Yes
Durability: 300-500 miles
Updates from Previous Model: Original
Upper: Tightly woven mesh, secure, full-feeling
Arch Height: Medium-High
Heel-Toe Drop: 12 mm

My Take on the Shoe
I started using this shoe about 4 months into my training for the White Rock Marathon last year. Before I had been using the Nike LunarGlide, and what a difference it made! This shoe is SO much softer than the LunarGlide and in my opinion, feels much more secure on my feet. The secure feeling is given by the sturdy upper that surrounds the entire foot. The upper doesn't provide a lot of give, causing the sturdy feeling. Unlike other Nike shoes I have owned in the past, the LunarEclipse doesn't feel narrow in the forefoot. A great fit for almost any foot, the LunarEclipse can take a beating too. I put about 120 miles on this shoe in a month and it still felt like it was almost straight out of the box. If you are a marathoner, this shoe should definitely be in your closet.

Perhaps the coolest part about this shoe is the midsole. Nike uses a "Dynamic Support" system to open up the shoe to the widest range of runners possible. The way they do this is through a two-layer wedge system. The top wedge, the cushion layer, is thin on the lateral side and thick on the medial side. The bottom wedge, the correction layer, is the opposite, thin on the medial side and thick on the lateral. The point for designing the shoe this way is to accommodate for different gaits. Almost everybody lands on the outside of their heel if they heel strike, but depending on their rate of pronation, they land in a different spot and roll in a different manner. People who pronate tend to land more on the outside of their foot and roll inward as they go through their gait cycle. People who are neutral footed or supinate typically strike more centered and stay straight throughout the gait cycle. So the way the midsole is set up, when pronators land on the outside of their heel, they activate the correction layer, which pushes them into a more neutral position. When neutral runners land more centered, they don't activate that correction layer because the cushion is too thick, so they stay in line the entire time their foot is on the ground. Don't worry midfoot/forefoot strikers, this shoe won't really correct at the end of the gait cycle (when you are typically landing) so it is a good fit for you too.

A Little Personal
I have used this shoe on grass, dirt, road, uphill, downhill, long runs, and speed work. This versatile shoe is one of my favorites. As I said earlier, I started using this shoe for my marathon training, and after the first run (a 10 miler) I knew it was going to be my new long run shoe. So I started using it for long runs at first, but it was cold outside, so I started wearing it for other runs to keep my feet warm because of the beefy upper. After running with it for speed, easy runs, and long runs, I couldn't get enough of this shoe. When selling it to people, I always present it as a Frankenstein shoe that thinks for your foot. By that, I mean the dynamic cushioning will correct you the right amount with every footstrike. By Frankenstein shoe, I mean that the LunarEclipse seems to take one major piece of technology from all the other shoes in the Lunar series and apply it to itself. It takes the flywire from the LunarGlide (flywire is designed to tighten the upper around the arch of your foot when you tighten the laces), it has the lightweight durability of the LunarElite, and it even has it's own piece of technology in the heel counter (heel counters are the rigid piece of plastic in the heel to make a shoe more stable). Specifics I like in the LunarEclipse:

• Versatility, you can use this shoe for anything!
• You can create this shoe in whatever colors you want on Nike's website
• The high durability 
• The secure feeling I get when I step into it
• The ability of the shoe to correct my gait no matter the slope of the road, be it either horizontal or vertica

One thing I hear from a majority of customers regarding Nikes, "Nike shoes never fit my foot, they run too narrow." To that I always ask, "When was the last time you tried them?" Often times I hear a response between 2 years to 5 years. I am saying it now, performance Nike running shoes (Bowerman and Lunar Series) do not fit like they have over previous years. Go try them on! It really is worth the time to go try them out. If you are in any doubt as to what kind of shoe you need, chances are you can wear the Nike LunarEclipse. So everyone go out and try a new pair of shoes and enjoy living The Life of a Runner.