three months ago I wrote about the boston 13 fresh out of the box. now I’m sitting at 350 kilometers on them and it feels like a good time to check back in.

the short version: they’re fine. the slightly longer version is more interesting.

the cushioning is going

I can feel it now. runs that used to feel smooth are starting to feel a bit more like pavement telling me exactly what it thinks of my life choices. that’s expected, to be fair. the general rule is a shoe is good for about 400k before you start noticing real breakdown, and I’m already past that ceiling in terms of feel even though I haven’t hit it in terms of number.

I always push my shoes to around 600k anyway. partly because I’m cheap, partly because I don’t love the “replace them the second they’re imperfect” mentality that shoe brands would very much like all of us to have. so these aren’t done. they’re just entering their “character building” phase.

boston 12 vs boston 13

here’s the part that surprised me a little. the 12s held up better than these are holding up right now at the same distance. I don’t have a lab or a treadmill full of sensors, this is purely a “my legs are the instrument” kind of assessment, but it’s a consistent enough feeling that I trust it.

I’ll say the quiet part out loud: I think the 12 was the better shoe. not by a mile, but enough that if you asked me to pick one blind, I’d pick the 12.

and honestly, full disclosure, I’m a legacy boston guy. the 9 series still lives rent free in my head as the standard I compare everything else to. so take “I prefer the 12” with the understanding that I’m the guy who thinks the original of most things was better, which, yes, I’m aware is a personality trait and not a fact.

so are they still good

yes. “adequately” is doing some real work in that sentence, but yes. nothing about this shoe has made me regret buying it, and nothing about 350k of impact has been alarming. it’s just not my favourite version of the boston, which is a very different complaint than “this shoe is bad.”

they’re still on the market as of writing this, no new version has dropped yet, and if I see them on sale I will absolutely be adding a second pair to the rotation. loyalty to the 12 aside, I’m not about to go shoe shopping out of principle when a perfectly functional pair is sitting there discounted.

what’s next

I’ll keep running in these until they’re closer to that 600k mark, at which point I’ll do a proper “this is what dying cushioning actually feels like” post, because I think that’s more useful to read than another glowing review nobody asked for.

for now: boston 13, 350k deep, still going, still fine, still not quite the 12.