{"id":23359,"date":"2026-04-27T16:02:26","date_gmt":"2026-04-27T16:02:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/23359\/"},"modified":"2026-04-27T16:02:26","modified_gmt":"2026-04-27T16:02:26","slug":"i-ran-london-marathon-in-39-99-lidl-super-shoes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/23359\/","title":{"rendered":"I ran London Marathon in \u00a339.99 Lidl super shoes"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rewind four weeks. I knew I would be running the marathon for the second time for the brilliant cricket charity, the Primary Club<\/a>, and had been training for months. I had been scouring the market for shoes, having trained in a trusty pair of Hokas. But I had read with interest that Lidl was releasing a \u201csuper shoe\u201d of their own. So, on the Sunday they were released, I went to take a look in one of the many branches of Lidl near my south London home.<\/p>\n

This is the first time I have been to \u201cthe middle of Lidl\u201d with a specific target in mind. I see shopping in the middle of Lidl the same way Forrest Gump sees a box of chocolates: you never know what you\u2019re going to get. On previous visits, I have left, on a whim, with a \u00a320 pressure washer (still in the box), a \u00a315 steamer (works intermittently) and a \u00a330 toddler tower (used daily). I have seen them selling reformer Pilates machines and leopard-print kettles. Generally, it is good quality, very good value, and when it\u2019s gone, it\u2019s gone.<\/p>\n

Staff are still plonking the boxes of shoes on the shelves as I arrive. I take a pair out. The shoes are light and not bad to look at. Like all super shoes \u2013 the name given to trainers with the carbon-plate technology that has revolutionised running<\/a> since the Nike Vaporfly almost a decade ago \u2013 they have a decent heel, and very thin, light material covering the feet. I\u2019ve seen enough and decide to invest. At \u00a340, what is the worst that could happen?<\/p>\n

I take them out for a couple of spins in training. They are bouncier than the tiring Hokas, which have seen me through a warm-weather training camp in Australia (also known as an Ashes tour) but provide less support for the foot. I worry that the insole on the right shoe is slipping a touch as I run, and that any potholes in the pavement have to be carefully negotiated, but broadly I am comfortable with their performance.<\/p>\n

For comparison, I was kindly lent a pair of \u00a3450 Adidas Adizero Pro Eco 2s, the forerunner to the 97g pair that Sabastian Sawe wore<\/a> when he broke the world record on Sunday. Eight days out from the marathon, I took them for a spin for an hour. It felt like running on a trampoline, and I moved better than I ever have. The Lidls are light, but these are like a feather, whilst also feeling steady and strong \u2013 in fact the Lidl pair are three times heavier. They seem workaday by comparison.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Rewind four weeks. I knew I would be running the marathon for the second time for the brilliant…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":23360,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[10510,9243,3184,27,1317,10537,10536,4477,771,330],"class_list":{"0":"post-23359","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-london","8":"tag-adidas","9":"tag-athletics","10":"tag-lidl","11":"tag-london","12":"tag-london-marathon","13":"tag-recommended","14":"tag-recommended-health-and-fitness","15":"tag-running","16":"tag-sport","17":"tag-standard"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@UnitedKingdom\/116477515979683060","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23359","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23359"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23359\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23360"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23359"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23359"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23359"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}