Product Review: Saucony Hattori running shoes

So, last week when I wrote the review of the Nadas and I said that to date they were the best minimalist running shoes I have ever run in?  Yeah... these are not.

The Saucony Hattori's are currently Saucony's "most minimalist" shoe in their 3 steps to minimalism.  I tried them out and was pretty excited to see how they did.  They have zero drop, which is good, they are very light weight, which is great, and they have a fairly substantial chunk of foam underneath them for padding/cushioning that I didn't like/see the need for, but I thought they would be nice for recovery days when your feet get a little sore or when you just need a little more protection on certain terrain.

The day I got them I was leaving to go out of town that day, in just a couple of hours, and hadn't started packing (one of those days) but I was intrigued so I grabbed them up and took off on a quick 1 mile speed run.  It was strange.  I couldn't put my finger on it... nothing hurt, nothing was bad, but for some reason I just didn't like them as I expected.  Oh well, I threw them in the closet and took off on my trip, chocking it up to too short a run and not enough time to really think it through.

I got back in town, went for another run (big hill course - 1 way track with about 75% being down hill).  I felt like I was flying down the hills.  I was pounding out the downhills in record time and felt pretty good after the race, but again, for some reason... I just didn't love them.
The next morning I woke up and my left knee was the size of a grapefruit and both of my knees were killing me.  I RICEd it up, shelved the Hattoris and went back to other shoes for the next couple of weeks.  After some time, I decided I wanted to try them again, give them a fair shake, and see what I thought.  After all, there's nothing glaring in the makeup of the shoe that should make them that bad....

After the run, my legs were way more fatigued than normal and my knees were already hurting some.  The next morning, my knees had pain like I hadn't experienced in 3 years.  My muscles were sore (when they shouldn't have been), my knees were killing me, and my feet hurt.

Again, it's a zero drop shoe, it is very light weight, the fit is good around your foot (glove like - very elasticized mesh - much like a water shoe), but for me the "padding" killed the shoe.  I'm not an elitist who thinks that all padding is the devil, though I do not like it myself for road running, and I don't think that was the issue.  It's somehow What the padding is.  The Eva they use is a dull "thud" and not a traditional rebound, which I thought would be better, but for me.... I hate them.  Honestly.  I definitely wont ever run in them again, and I would never recommend them to anyone else either.