Camille Herron On Carbon

Super shoes may be super—but they’re not for everyone.

Camille Herron has bagged two major ultramarathon world records in the last few years, including the 24-hour women's world record of 167.8 miles in 2019 and the 48-hour world record of 271 miles last weekend. But on Twitter yesterday, she said that her latest record-smashing race didn't include carbon-plated shoes—and for good reason.

"[C]arbon plated shoes become really painful at slower paces and running more on your heels. Feel like bricks!" explained Herron after a Twitter user asked why she’d opted out of wearing a super shoe in her latest race, which she ran at an average pace of 10:39 per mile. "Bruce [and] I wore carbon plated shoes for both my 24Hr World Records. So much foot pain! Had to change shoes 3 times during my first 24Hr WR- lost time. The second 24Hr WR, it felt like I had fractured bones in my feet," she added.

Herron's not the only runner who's reconsidering her relationship with super shoes. The vast majority of carbon-fiber plate research has been conducted on athletes competing at an elite level rather than everyday runners who squeeze in a few miles before work. A recent paper even found that carbon-plated technology may offer the best results for those who are purely racing for speed and hinder those with a lower running economy. Plus, while (again) the research is thin, some experts believe that super shoes may pave the way for new types of running injuries.

Still, "Should I super shoe or should I not?" is a question that will likely continue the running world for many years to come. On a recent episode of, Nobody Asked Us with Des & Kara, host Kara Goucher and Des Linden spent a while chatting about how to introduce carbon-fiber tech to youth athletes. While it's a tricky decision that all parents must make on their own, the two agreed that it's natural for young runners to be curious about a technology that's no doubt changing their sport. And if that incites more excitement for lacing up and getting out there—then so be it.

However, in the absence of robust research, many runners have concluded that wearing super shoes is a highly personal decision that requires trial and error (an experiment that, given the price of these techy sneakers, ain't cheap).

Kells McPhillips is a health and wellness journalist living in Los Angeles. Her work has appeared in Runner's World, The New York Times, Well+Good, Fortune, Shape, and others.

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