<b><strong>I’m Calling It Now: R.A.D UFO Is My Shoe of the Year</strong></b>
- The PEBA midsole is as fun as a bounce house.
- The striking design and neon colors complement the energetic ride.
- It’s a versatile trainer whether you’re out for an easy cruise or a speedy workout.
Despite the headline above, I’m not entirely willing to dethrone the Adidas Adizero Evo SL as the best running shoe you can buy. And, luckily, I don’t have to eat that shoe because I made that foolish bet in 2025. But, of all the best running shoes hitting shelves right now, the R.A.D UFO is a surprise hit and lands atop my list of new favorites.
It was also a huge hit with our wear-testers, primarily because of its bouncy midsole that turns every single run into pure delight. We’re sure you will love it, too, so here’s a look at what R.A.D did right with its first true running shoe.
Vomero. Glycerin. Those are a couple titans of comfort, but they’re also the cushioned running shoes our testers most favorably compared to this bouncy, new, and shockingly fun trainer. It’s the first real running shoe from “Rally Against Destruction,” a company that got its start in CrossFit. The brand’s marketing efforts on social media are edgy and full of energy—and some curse words. That vibe carries over to the aesthetic of the shoe and, ultimately, the road feel.
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Key Specs
Type: Max-Cushioned Trainer
Weight: 8.9 oz (M), 7.5 oz (W)
Drop: 8 mm
Foam: Dual-layer PEBA
Pros
- Soft and bouncy midsole makes running fun
- Fit is comfortable and true to size
- Can handle easy jogs as easily as your speedwork
Cons
- PEBA foam is fragile (but don’t sweat it)
- Narrow footed runners will have to yank the laces super tight
R.A.D Knocked It Out of the Park
The UFO proves my theory that if you just take a huge gob of PEBA foam, shape it well, and put something simple up top to lock the foot to that squishy goodness, you’ve got a winner.
(Other shoe manufacturers, listen up: There’s the magic formula. Do that and you’re going to win every time.)
In this shoe, R.A.D actually uses two pieces of foam for the midsole, which it calls Supefoam—there’s no plate and all bounce. One tester described these as her new favorite “sproing-sproing shoes.” Another tester, Sean O’Connor, a long-distance runner who has competed in backyard ultras, added, “The cushion on this shoe was amazing—so squishy and soft. I found myself grabbing this shoe on easy days and on long days because of its comfort. On my long runs of 20-plus miles, they were extremely comfortable the whole time, and my feet never felt tired.”
Some of the best running shoes lately have been seemingly the most simple. But tuning this likely wasn’t so easy because this foam really wants to act like a pogo stick. Helping to control your flow is a mighty heel bevel and forefoot rocker. The two combine to give the shoes an extra bulbous shape. Somehow, it all works to help direct your motion forward.
That bulbous shape is highly functional, too. Because the foam is so soft and squishy, the convex geometries help bolster the platform, dialing up the stability a little bit so you’re not tipping off the sides with each stride.
And that rocker shape allows you to effortlessly flow no matter how your foot hits pavement. I’ve put 184 miles on my pair, as of this writing, and have used it for everything from an 8:30-paced morning jog to a spirited progression run, working down near 6-flat miles. On my easier efforts, I sit back and kiss the ground slightly with my heel. When running fast, I’m closer to my toes, landing midfoot. And in both instances, the shoe loads up on impact and feels peppy as I scooch up to my forefoot for toe off.
Skip ahead to 3:40 to see my thoughts on the R.A.D UFO.
Style and Fit Are On Point
I took an unnecessary little swing at R.A.D when I talked about this shoe on video. I have a closet full of white-on-white running shoes from the past year or so. And my size 12 sample showed up in the most boring colorway the company makes. I know, I know, color shouldn’t matter. But, c’mon, look at the highlighter pink pair or the creamsicle kicks. The dang shoes look every bit as fun as the UFO feels underfoot.
Speaking of feel, we found the on-foot comfort is excellent, too. Getting the fit right can be tricky for new brands, but R.A.D is in the ballpark here.
“I really like the lacing system,” said Rebecca Ruvane, who previously liked the Asics Superblast 2 and Novablast 4 in testing. “It pulls tight and has ample flexibility to accommodate a lot of different foot sizes. The heel is also butter-soft.”
A note is that the throat—the opening above the tongue, which you pull closed with laces—isn’t exceptionally wide. So, if you have a very narrow foot, you might run out of real estate to get the shoe feeling snug. It didn’t prove to be a problem for our testers.
Beware the Fragile Foam
One gripe: The PEBA foam is not very durable. In fact, you might opt to baby your shoes because you’re going to see some premature wear. I don’t do that. I’ve been running the snot out of these things. I smash over chunky rocks on our local canal path. I have a bad tendency of kicking my ankle and destroying both fabric and foam. And I always just stomp on the heel to slip the shoes off at the end of every run.
Somehow over the course of my first few runs, I managed to rip loose a chunk on the lateral heel of the shoe. I don’t know how and it doesn’t matter. There’s still plenty of foam there and the nick is nothing more than cosmetic.
All that said, I’m not concerned with durability. The shoes are looking like they’ve been pummeled, because they have. Underfoot, however, they still have the same bounce and cush that I’ve loved since first cracking open the box.
Buy Men’s and Women’s at rad-global.com
Jeff is Runner-in-Chief for Runner’s World and the director of product testing. He has tested and reviewed running shoes, GPS watches, headphones, apparel, and more for nearly two decades. He regularly tests more than 100 pairs of shoes each year, and once had a 257-day streak running in different models. Jeff can usually be found on the roads, racing anything from the mile to a marathon, but he also enjoys racing up mountains and on snowshoes. When he’s not running, you’ll probably find him hanging from a ladder making repairs and renovations to his house (he’s also director of product testing for Popular Mechanics).