1600 meters and pros compete at 1500 meters on the trac

[melting]

When I put the shoes on to do some strides, I immediately noticed how unstable they felt just standing still or walking around—“pretty rubbish,” as Wightman would say. But, as I built up to speed, I found the sweet spot. The midfoot bump on the lateral side makes ground contact first and I feel like it bounces me to the forefoot, my heel never touching the pavement. The rubber slaps the ground and I notice how firm and thin the forefoot feels, how snappy it is to get off the ground to my next step.The shoe fits and feels like a track spike, and ultimately it has to deliver that same level of power and speed over the short distance. To do so, New Balance leveraged a lot of data, tweaking small details like the angle of the forefoot tread—offset at 6 degrees to maximize traction as the foot rotates from landing to propulsion.

And, of course, there’s the carbon fiber plate. New Balance took a different approach for this shoe, using unidirectional fibers. What that means is the plate can twist and bend laterally—side to side—but is rigid from heel to toe. That creates a stiff lever for the runner to generate even more power with every stride, but still allows them to land smoothly and pronate onto their forefoot. To me, the shoe didn’t feel stiff underfoot—or at least, any more so than a track spike I’d otherwise wear to race a mile on the track.The positioning of a mile-only shoe is a curious one. It’s a distance that isn’t often contested—high schoolers race 1600 meters and pros compete at 1500 meters on the track, neither a true mile. And, despite a push by some to make the distance meaningful again, it’s far overshadowed by other distances.

I counted 175 mile races listed on bringbackthemile.com, and that number includes many pro-only races like the Prefontaine Classic and races in other countries. By comparison, Running USA reports that 8.9 million people registered to race a 5K in 2018, and 508,000 signed up for a marathon in 2018.New Balance, however, recognizes the mile as “one of the purest distances in running,” said Keith Kelly, global marketing manager for performance running. And the 5280 is designed for pure racing over that distance.The brand says it’s targeted at those who can go 5:30 or faster. In New York City, 814 runners dipped under that mark at the 5th Avenue Mile, so we could see it on the feet of a lot of fleet folks when the shoe is officially launched at this year’s race in September.The forefoot rubber is angled to give you maximum traction on paved surfaces.