Nike Alphafly 1 Review: A 40s Beginner's First Running Shoes

Gear · Published 1/1/2023 ·

May 2022 — I finally made up my mind to take up running.

So I bought myself a pair of running shoes.

When you don’t know much about something, buy the best one your wallet can handle.

It’s something we all already know, of course.

I had no idea how long I’d actually stick with running, but the thing about running is that it doesn’t cost much — you can just throw on a pair of shorts and head out the door. So the one thing I splurged on was good shoes.

These are the Alphafly 1, which were already an older model by the time I wrote this.

Mine still look brand new, though.

I was drawn in by that unusual design. The sole is split in two???

It really does look pretty complicated. There’s a carbon plate in there, ZoomX foam too — at least that’s what it says.

The part labeled FLY PLATE is the carbon piece.

Below that there’s an air pocket. It’s a really distinctive design, and it looked like it had something special going on.

It gave me the confidence that I’d be able to run well.

Here’s the inside. The sole is way higher than I expected.

And yet? They’re light.

The laces have a shape and material that don’t come undone easily.

Obviously, having them come loose mid-run would be a real disaster.

The whole thing is mesh, so there’s no such thing as “breathability” to speak of.

The entire shoe just breathes.

They come with a storage bag too. So I kept mine in the car trunk all the time, which made it easy to train on the way home from work or by stopping off at a track somewhere.

Training

You won’t really know until you actually run, but I ran until I felt like my heart was about to explode… and until my lungs felt like they just couldn’t go anymore.

After that, I looked up various training methods and worked my way through them step by step.

The result

A full 10K…

I’m not a professional athlete.

I’m just a paunchy guy in his 40s, documenting how far an ordinary person can get when he gives it a shot — and turns out, this far.

The sense of accomplishment I felt finishing a 10K course in pouring rain was honestly, ridiculously good.

So? Those shoes that cost me over 300,000 won earned their keep.

I’ve also tried on a few training shoes a tier below them, and they’re definitely good.

Even with a beginner behind the wheel, a Mercedes S-Class will still deliver plenty of performance. There’s no way an S-Class wouldn’t perform well, I figured.

I felt the same way about running shoes.

There’s a lot of debate around these shoes. People say beginners who wear them don’t move forward, they just bounce upward; that you won’t get good times unless you’re a midfoot striker, and so on.

My take? If it feels good, it’s good.

That is, unless you’re chasing sub-4 or sub-3 times.

Of course, I’m working toward a goal of running a half marathon myself. But what matters even more than the type of shoe is your fitness, hands down.

Unless you’re a masters-level or elite runner, I think guys like me — just regular dudes with a bit of a belly — can go ahead and wear whatever shoes we like.

Thank you.

#NikeAlphafly #MarathonShoes #MarathonRunningShoes #RunningShoesForYour40s #BeginnerRunningShoes #BeginnerRunningShoes