Mizuno Wave Paradox General Information:

Founded in 1906 in Osaka, Japan, the company originally distributed Western goods. Due to the popularity of baseball, the company soon became Japan’s first sporting goods company and is one of the leading brands in baseball and golf (in addition to running). Mizuno is also famous for being the sole sporting goods sponsor of the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games.

Mizuno Wave Paradox Impression:

The first impression you will get from this shoe is how light it is. It is the only structured support shoe I have worn that is not clunky. As a runner who has moderate pronation and cycles through both stability and support shoes, this is the first structured support shoes that does not complicate training runs due to the normal excess weight.

In other words, it is more like my other shoes and less like a structured support shoe. They provide enough support for your maintenance and long runs, yet light enough to be effective in threshold workouts and longer distance races.

Mizuno Wave Paradox Sole Unit:

The Sole Unit of the Wave Paradox possesses two unique components that is Mizuno’s hallmark Wave Technology. The plastic wave midsole is designed to be economical in distributing the impact of your stride away from the foot.

Each shoe has a different wave shape to coincide with the needs of the runner; in this case, the fan wave is thicker and lower to the bottom of the shoe under the arch. This encourages a more economical mid-foot strike.

Sandwiching this plastic “wave” are two/three rubber plates. The SR-TOUCHin the heel provides a cushioned landing pad that helps to propel you forward while running while also locking in the arch. The U4ic midsole is also both soft and much lighter than previous Mizuno support midsoles, by some estimates up to 30%.

Mizuno Wave Paradox The Upper:

The Upper is thin layered and composed of two materials; an inner mesh material that is found in most running shoes and a thin plastic-like film over it that provides some waterproofing. The materials provide a breathable and yet insulated effect.

Mizuno Wave Paradox Opinion:

You will not find another light structured-support shoe on the market, like this yet. It is durable, comfortable and provides support to heavy pronators without the heavy clunky feeling that comes with most shoes in this category.

My only real negative opinion about this shoe is the same with all other Mizuno shoe models and that is the heel. While the “cored” heel sheds excess weight, it catches rocks and can pack in snow if you do not have access to perfectly manicured roads in the wintertime. Beyond that, those annoyances are a trifle price to pay for a Mizuno shoe. They are long-lasting, comfortable, and in this case, very light for a structured support shoe.

We thank the nice people at Mizuno for sending us a pair of Wave Paradox to test. This did not influence the outcome of the review, written after running more than 50 miles in them.