When you first look at this shoe, the first thing you notice is the flashy colour. The pair I have are a bright orange with some black on them which looks like an animal print. I think many people will buy the shoe just for the look as the shoe definitely gets noticed and grabs your attention. The Elixir weighs only x oz so my immediate thought was I will have to use this for shorter fast runs. After trying the shoe for my first run I was amazed how supportive it was for how light it was. I found the shoe provided good proprioception allowing me better feedback to tell if my form was good or not. This is my first pair of Mizuno shoes and I must say I am happily surprised. I typically run in Brooks. My last two pair of shoes were the Brooks Ghost. I like the Brooks as they have good support, yet are still light and allow me to run fast. After trying the Mizuno Elixir, I don’t think I would go back to Brooks. I find the Mizuno Elixir lighter and feel faster. I started out with some shorter runs as you should always break the shoes in with lower distances. I then moved into mid distances and added more speed work. When running on gravel, you do feel the rocks underneath your feet, but I find they do offer better protection than a racing flat. To date my longest run in them has been 27k and they held up well. I was worried that they my feet would get sore with the Elixir at longer distances since I am use to a shoe with more cushion. After the 27k, I found my feet still felt fine. My feet felt so good that I think I will actually use them for my next marathon (NYC). I was concerned that due to the lower amount of support that I would pronate too much. According to a few runners that ran behind me during my last long slow run, they said I seemed to have great form in the shoes. That I had just the right amount of pronation.
The shoes do have a rather large grove at the heel. If you run in muddy conditions, it will get filled. I imagine the same will be true in the winter with snow. There is an excellent amount of grip with the Elixir 7. As much as I like the Elixir, I doubt I will use them in the winter. I think they would be too light and breathable that my feet would get too cold. However, those same features make them great for warm summer runs!
Overall I would say the Elixer 7 is a fast shoe that actually has some stability to it which allows for excellent transitions. I recommend it for runners who need some medial support or for those more neutral runners. With the colour options available, these shoes will definitely get you noticed although might be a challenge to co-ordinate colours with!
