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The Endorphin Shift 2 has been a staple in my lineup for a while now. Designed to be the everyday/longer easy run shoe in the Endorphin lineup, the Shift is not a light shoe. It has a huge stack height, plenty of foam, and a generously comfortable upper that has never managed to give me any discomfort. But thanks to its geometry, it's also surprisingly responsive. The firmer foam provides plenty of stability, and the SpeedRoll design promotes a faster turnover without being invasive. It works extremely well with my stride and footstrike (longer stride length, midfoot landing).
The Shift 2 is my favorite long-run shoe, whether I'm out for long easy miles, or adding some faster work in.
As I mentioned above, this is a shoe that manages to be both heavy and reasonably quick, which is not an easy feat. I've found the Shift to be happiest at easy to threshold pace. I've done plenty of strides in them, and the PWRRUN foam is firm enough to stay stable and fast. I do notice the weight of the Shift; this isn't a shoe I would choose for a short tempo, but it could do it (and the warm-up and the cool-down).
While I don't necessarily recommend it, I've found the Endorphin Shift to be stiff and cushioned enough to handle some of the trails I run in the mountains. That's great when I want to add a little vert into a road run.
As far as traction goes, the Shift 2 is fine. I've found it struggles a bit on wet/slippery asphalt at faster paces, but handles loose gravel/dirt without issue.
The upper on the Shift is almost luxurious. I've been having issues with the heel counter rubbing my Achilles raw on a lot of newer shoes. This is the shoe I pull on the day after one of those shoes (looking at you, Endorphin Speed 3) leaves some carnage behind. It's soft, breathable, wicking and smooth. The only drawback is that the softer material does absorb a lot of sweat, so these shoes get a little fragrant. That's not an issue I have with most shoes, so worth noting.
All in all, this is a great shoe that would work well for a lot of runners. If you're mostly doing easy miles and threshold work, this could be a quiver killer.
I'm not gentle on shoes. Typically, I burn through them in between 300-400 miles. This pair of Endorphin Shifts has nearly 600 miles on them, mostly roads both paved and dirt (plus a few rouge trail runs).
You can see in the photos that the midsole is exposed. Typically, this is a red flag for me. The gravel roads I run on tend to tear up the exposed midsole. That isn't an issue I've had with the Endorphin Shift. In fact, they've held up better than a lot of other shoes.
I have worn through the edge of the outsole on my left shoe as a result of a gait imbalance. That took almost 600 miles to happen.
The Saucony Endorphin Shift 2 has become one of my favorite shoes. I've had a few pairs. Each has lasted a long time, been extremely comfortable, versatile enough for easy days or fast long runs, and enjoyable to log miles in. It also pairs extremely well with the Endorphin Pro as a plateless, non-PEBAX foam shoe for easy days.
If you can get past the extremely high stack, this is a shoe that I think would work well for most runners.
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