All shoes are created equal... but some are more equal than others

I ran in a new pair of shoes yesterday.  I have been running in the Newton Terra Momentums and the Saucony Kinvaras.  Whenever I run in the Newtons, the runs are a bit more "sloggy."  Or put another way, I always feel lighter and bouncier in the Kinvaras.  This has been surprising, since all of my other Newtons have felt bouncy.  And since I've given them a good 200 miles to see if they changed (and they didn't), I thought it might be the shoes.  Spring, being what it is, I decided to break out a new pair of shoes, the Newton Distance S (below). 

They are NOS, as the deal between the Army Triathlon Club and Newton changed last year, so I decided to stock up while I could.  As soon as I started running in them, I knew that
the difference was in the shoes.  These Newtons have the same bouncy feel that I previously had experienced.  I ended up doing some tempo work and was pleasantly surprised that 6:30 pace didn't feel all that bad.  It's funny, though; since the technology was similar, I thought that the Terra Momentums would feel the same as the Motions that I had previously used. But they were definitely not the same.

In a similar way, I ran in Saucony Mirages 2 years ago.  They are similar to the Kinvaras, but made to be a bit more stable.  I had the same dead feel in the Mirages as I do in the Terras.  The Kinvaras are much more lively.  Moral of the story:  even if shoes are supposed to be very similar, there can be light-years difference in the feel.  I haven't decided whether I'll just shelve the Terras for awhile, but I'm tempted.