The RW Takeaway: The Addiction 14 is for that specific subset of runners who need a good ol’ fashioned motion control shoe.
- A roll bar in the midsole helps temper severe overpronation
- The shoe gets a 2019 makeover with a new saddle
- It’s still a heavy-weight
Price: $140
Type: Road
Weight: 12 oz. (M), 9.8 oz. (W)
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Anyone who knows me personally is familiar with my penchant for Brooks’s running shoes. But that’s not to say that I love every model the brand makes. As a former overpronator and recent cushioned shoe convert, I approached running in the Addiction—a shoe geared toward controlling the motion of your foot—with an open mind.
Since this was my first experience with any generation of the shoe, I checked the RW log on previous iterations. We praised the 11, which we reviewed in 2013, for its soft ride and motion-control features. Fast forward to six years later and, with the exception of a revamped upper, you could say the Addiction is the last vestige of what a motion-control running trainer once was. My first impressions: Similar to the 11, the 14 is still a heavy shoe, and the cushioning is softer in the heel. Yet it’s surprisingly harder on my joints, but I think the tenderness I had in my knee after running in it boils down to this conclusion: It’s just not my kind of shoe—but that doesn’t mean it can’t be yours.
If you want to test out motion-controlling footwear, guide rails aren’t enough, and you can deal with the heavier weight for the sake of more cushioning, then the Addiction is indeed the shoe for you. I just recommend taking it out at an easy pace first. Your knees will thank you.
Pros
- Rollbar tech tempers severe pronation
- Accommodates orthotics
Cons
- Very heavy (12 oz. for men’s; 9.8 oz. for women’s)
Old School Construction
Even though guide rail technology—at least Brooks’s version—was only introduced last year, the Addiction 14’s medial post (Brooks’s Extended Progressive Diagonal Rollbar, or PDRB) already seems a thing of the past. Our wear testers who ran in the 11 gave the shoe high marks on comfort and support. But opinions can change. Some of our wear testers had a difficult time placing the 14. “Is it a cushion shoe or a stability shoe?” they asked.
I found the Addiction 14 is for a specific kind of runner, one who falls into the orthotic-wearing, severely overpronating group of mile-eaters. But I still found a comfy fit.
Maximum Support
If my Addiction testing was drawn as a comic, you would see little sound exclamations by my feet going “Clomp, clomp, clomp, clomp!” My audible tread is likely due to the shoe’s heft and stiffness. The PDRB also affected my neutral gait, which I think is testament to the technology’s effectiveness. If it can influence my neutral stride, it most likely gets the job done offering support to those who need it. An overpronating wear tester described the shoe as “very comfortable and stable,” and that its “support and stability were solid.” However, he wasn’t a fan of the shoe’s “rigidity.”
A Firmer Platform
The Addiction is a member of Brooks’s cushion family of shoes, which also includes the Glycerin and Ghost. Compared to the latter, however, the Addiction’s platform feels firmer. The difference in softness is likely due to the absence of DNA Loft, a cushy foam that’s in both the Glycerin and Ghost. Wear testers, and myself, found the forefoot to be lacking in cushioning compared to the heel.
Amanda is a test editor at Runner’s World who has run the Boston Marathon every year since 2013; she's a former professional baker with a master’s in gastronomy and she carb-loads on snickerdoodles.
