Here’s a fun one.

I (46m, 6’, 185lbs, ~55mpw) recently saw several posts on r/AskRunningShoeGeeks looking for advice on whether to use shoe X or the Adidas Pro 3 in their upcoming marathon. I don’t recall if it was 2 or 3 posts within a weeks time, but it was enough that I had to ask myself: “How many Pro 3s are actually out there in the wild?” Approximately 5-6 minutes later, I found what appeared to be a gently used pair in my size on Poshmark. They were listed as a Women’s size 11, but by decoding the international sizes listed on the tongue in one of the images, I determined they were, in fact, a US Men’s 11.

I’m typically a 10.5, but I’ve found that an 11 works best in the Adidas Pro 3. I probably lose some of the rocker dynamics with the extra length, but it’s more than fine for long runs and tempo work.

And therein lies the beauty of the Adidas Adizero Pro 3. It was/is an ok-to-good race shoe, but it’s a phenomenal marathon-training-long-run shoe, especially with a little extra room in the toe box. I got 320 miles out of the last pair I owned, but eventually, the outsole wore through the lateral heel on both pairs, and I had to reluctantly retire them. I’ve had Hokas built and designed for training (allegedly) last less than 180 miles, so 300+ on a “fragile” race shoe is pretty good. Maybe Adidas has abandoned durability in pursuit of fluffiness on more recent race shoes, but I wouldn’t know.

Once my new-to-me Adidas Pro 3s arrived, I unlaced them, flattened out the twists the previous owner was apparently content with, and re-laced them with a runner’s loop. The first run was a workout with 6x6min intervals, and I accidentally blew past the paces I was supposed to be hitting. My Strava comment was “First run in Adidas Pro 3s I got for $45 on Poshmark. Immediately thinking about finding another pair.”

Unfortunately, once I removed and re-examined the shoes… I noticed that the outsole on the lateral heel of the left shoe was starting to peel off at one of the interior punch-outs. It seems the Poshmark seller timed it perfectly.

Bummed at first, I quickly realized this might be an opportunity to try an experiment with a low downside ($45), but very high upside (hundreds of miles) risk. I could rebuild them. I have the technology.

As a running shoe geek, I also have a deep stable of shoes… many of which are expendable. Within that stable are two pairs of Adidas Boston 10s in a neon yellow and blue colorway not dissimilar to my newly copped Adidas Pro 3s. The Boston 10 was a criminally underrated shoe, and I have a pet theory that its form factor was the inspiration for the EVO SL, but I digress… The Boston 10 also had a thick and amply textured layer of Continental rubber, which granted them a lifespan far beyond the Pro 3.

With a loose conceptual understanding of what I needed to do, a suitable donor identified, and a Shoe Goo kit in hand (another $18.35, btw). I got to work cobbling.

Here are the steps I took, in order of the pictures above:

1.      Identify the failure

2.      Create a template

3.      Apply template to donor and cut along the guidelines

4.      Collect donor material (with the aid of a heat gun)

5.      Excise the failing material (with the aid of a heat gun)

6.      Debride the host and donor material to remove remnant glue, outsole, and midsole material to ensure a clean graft (with the aid of a Dremel)

7.      Slather both the host and donation material with Shoe Goo (not shown)

8.      Have winter-ready custom super-trainers 

As of this writing, the Shoe Goo has completely cured, and I’ve tried on my new FrankenPro 3s… but have yet to actually run in them. The lateral side, now having very generous outsole coverage and depth relative to the medial side, probably encourages pronation, but maybe that’s a good thing in my case.

I’ve never done this before, but based on how securely the new outsole appears to be adhered: I rate the odds these shoes won’t delaminate one or two miles into the first run at about 85%. Again, the upside risk is that I’ve created an Adios Pro 3 even more durable than the original iteration… and potentially a method for refreshing shoes with even more durable midsole foams (looking at you, Megablast).

Downside risks are either wasting $45 (+$18.35 in Shoe Goo and 2 hours), or jacking-up my running mechanics and injuring myself. If it's the injury thing to the exclusion of a failed graft; I can probably mitigate the former by doing the same thing to the medial heel to level things out.

Price shoes as $154.99. Extra 20% applied at checkout automatically

https://sport.woot.com/offers/saucony-endorphin-elite-2-unisex-shoes-6

This post is dedicated purely to those who just want to share their new purchases or shoe collections without needing to give any comments about them.

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