Customer Reviews Altra Escalante Racer

For 47 years I have been running in a stability shoe because I over pronate. A physical therapist friend changed my foot strike from heel to forefoot. These shoes are fantastic and much faster.

I am saddened to see Altra moving away from low stack, zero drop models however the Racer checks the boxes with just the right feel. Not too high, soft, or clunky. Mesh top is excellent breathability. Altra please keep putting out models true to your roots instead of following the herd into gimmick laden nonsense.

I am a triathlete and have been using this shoe for the past 5 years. I must have gone through 10 pairs by now. I cannot recommend this shoe more

Best shoe I've ran in, Just purchased my 2nd pair. Same shoe just different color way. Finally Altra has came up with a good solid color (Black). Need more simple colors like this.

Thank you for bringing back the all black, love, love the racer.

I wanted a shoe for the gym and to run in, these work great for both.

The blue and yellow is my fave colorway that Altra sells in men's sizes. Coming back for a 2nd pair before they sell out since the Racer 2 is out with meh colors for men's sizes.

Everyday and in the gym.

Love my Escalante racers and want to buy a new pair but I just can't get into any of the current colorways. Please bring back the Grey with blue/green sole or something light gray in color or just a bit more neutral.

I've had my Escalante Racers for about 8 months now when I started road running again. I run in Lone Peaks on trails and these for my road runs. I run in them a few times per week, and I much prefer running in these over the regular Escalantes. These shoes are great- very minimalistic, which I think encourages the proper foot strike and form. When wearing more cushioned shoes, it is easy to heel strike or fall into worse form, which make runs feel like a slog. In these shoes, I regularly run 5-8 miles a few times/week without issue and feel like I could keep going and going. I can't wear shoes with a narrow toe box or a heel lift anymore. I've been hiking, walking, and working in Altas for a few years now. I've seen complaints about longevity, but I've never had that with any Altras and not with this Escalante Racer. These shoes look new and the tread has minimal wear on it. I have a pain of Lone Peaks that must have a thousand hiking miles on them without issue other than the loss of tread, so now I have a newer pair of Lone Peaks. I'm a committed Altra person at this point. My daughter who runs XC and track just changed from Hokas to Altras. Please don't change this shoe, Altra.

Love the feeling of this shoe. Very light & responsive. Ran 6 miles on my first run.

I wrote a comment not too far back mentioning now many pairs of these I've had. In that review I also mentioned how ugly the color schemes were and how tragic it was there wasn't just black on black. They made black on black in the last hoo-rah. Even though I knew the new ones were a month out I still bought a pair and I am happy I did. I'll by the next version too. I'm not sure if ya'll heard me in the black on black request but they sold out already and I grabbed a pair knowing they'd be obsolete soon. Thank you!!!

I bought this as an alternative for my Xero shoes due to a developing achilleas tendonitis. Did miracles!

I LOVE these shoes, and the black ones are my second pair. Historically, I've been in the Instincts and then the Escalantes with the Escalante 2.0's being my favorite (probably, although the 1.5's and 2.5's were also great). The 3.0's were not so great for me, though. I tried a couple other models after the 3.0's, and they never felt quite right. I had also looked at the Racers, but never pulled the trigger on them because, well, I'm not a Racer and I thought they looked too light on cushioning. Boy was I wrong. They're SO similar to the 2.0's, and I'm in LOVE. Please never ever ever ever change this shoe.

I've been running in the Escalante line since the 1.5 version. When the 2.0 was released, I was unsure about the modifications to lock in the foot. After trying it though, totally fell in love with it! That brings us to the Racer. I had always wanted to try them, but liked the 2.0s a lot. After the 2.5s, I wanted to see if the Racer was better. Oh man... absolutely incredible! They are light, flexible yet firm, and are incredibly well built. It's got the right balance of cushion to protect your feet without detracting from ground feel. Bonus: the shoes have lasted, for me, week over 500mi with no issues in the midsole. The "only" downside is colorway, but that's not really worth mentioning.

It's the perfect Altra shoe, what the company is all about. Amazingly light and well built. Please don't discontinue.

Have worn two pairs of Escalante Racers and love them for 5-10k running. Of all of Altra's shoes, these are the most minimal and may require the most time for your body to adjust to the lack of cushion. But once you are broken into them, the responsiveness to the road is phenomenal. May need to be replaced more often than the average running shoe since they are so lightweight, but that is to be expected with such a minimal shoe. As long as Altra continues to make these, I will continue to replace an old pair with a new one!

I made the purchase using Apple Pay and the default speed is the 5 to 7 business days versus the three day free shipping. I'm gonna have to wait an extra four days to get my shoes because. I didn't want to wait. These are my favorite shoes though. I own several different colors. The black on black is Is not as bright as all those other colors. Altra please do more plain colors like all black. Not everybody loves bright colors.

First off, wow! This is only my second pair of Altra shoes and I'm blown away at how these are meticulously designed to accommodate the splay during the impact while running. I will be returning for any upcoming pair that I'll need!

Maybe it's placebo, but the responsiveness, toe box room, no feet swell, zero hot spots or blisters out of the box as well impact absorption taken off my hips, groin and hamstring makes this a must have in the zero drop shoe market. 10 mile run right out of the box and I felt like I could go another 10. These shoes feel like a perfect augment and my pacing and cadence felt natural with them. I'm team Altra with this one

I was terrified when I heard Altra was gonna discontinue them. Happy to see them back. After 20+ years in running and hundreds of different shoes, these are the absolute best shoes ever created.

Looking for an alternative to no-cushion Merrell Trail Gloves, I decided to try this out (there aren't too many zero-drop, generous-toe-box options with a low stack height.) And I love it! I wear it for practically all my runs (most are on roads). I have always bought men's as my feet are wide.

I have been using the Escalante Racers for my daily runs of anywhere from 5-8 miles, everything from easy to tempo runs. I really like the extra space in the toe area, and going back to my old New Balance makes my toes feel constrained. The traction is great even on damp roads, the heel really does "lock in" and, one interesting thing that I noticed after wearing these is that they seemed to have a positive effect on my Garmin chart data (vertical oscillation & ratio) so apparently my stride is more efficient. Seem to reduce knee pain compared with previous shoes. Only minor issue is the flat laces seem to knot up easily if not untied right.

There is a reason you switch out your shoes. Everyday trainers to a something for for your long runs. This is for RACING! It fits well and snug to my heal. I can feel the pop in the shoe as I run. On cold mornings your feet might get cold, choose different socks. The new all black looks sick by the way! Thanks for a great shoe! Sub 330 LA Marathon!

THE BEST shoe for running ultra distances... period!!!