Every time a running company updates its shoes, you can hear a collective gasp from runners everywhere. *Please, please, please don’t do anything that will prevent my favorite shoe from working for me!* While I’m all for innovation, it feels like shoe updates are coming faster and faster these days. Sometimes, I only go through two pairs of the same shoe before a new model is ready. Both of my go-to shoes — the Brooks Ravenna and Brooks PureCadence — have just been updated. After holding my breath and waiting for their arrival, I’ve been running in and testing out the new Ravennas for the past month. I’m pleased to share my Brooks Ravenna 9 review.

As background, I’ve been running in the Brooks PureCadence (a lightweight, more minimal stability shoe) since 2012, starting with the first model of the shoe. I switched to the PureCadence after a terrible relationship with the Ravennas, which I swore off forever until last year when I decided to bring them back into my rotation. Today, I wear the Ravennas for all my easy runs and the PureCadence for my pace-based (faster) workouts and all races. I’ve remained 100 percent injury-free (knock vigorously on wood) using this combo and, of course, taking steps to avoid common running injuries.

The Brooks Ravenna is a traditional running shoe for runners that need added stability. The Ravenna 9 has a midsole drop of 10 mm and is a support shoe for runners with a flat to medium arch. I had the chance to talk with the footwear team at Brooks last week to understand a little more about the updates to the new model. The team said they have really been focused across all their shoes on how they can improve the experience for the runner and streamline each shoe to make it lighter while allowing each runner to run how they were built to run.

Updates to the Brooks Ravenna include:

• Improved breathability with a new air mesh upper on the shoe that should also provide a more forgiving shape for your foot that will get even more flexible as you run in them
• An updated blown rubber outsole for a springier feel underfoot
• An overall better fit

Do the new Brooks Ravenna 9 deliver on their promise?

Overall, I think the update on the Ravenna 9 is spectacular. It really looks and feels like a different, lighter, more modern shoe but doesn’t interfere with the performance or function that Ravenna wearers have come to expect. I absolutely love the new air mesh from both an aesthetic and feel perspective, and the color options are fun and varied to meet different runner preferences. {I really like the hot pink!}

If I had to nitpick on these shoes, I would say that I wish the toe box was slightly wider, one of the reasons I like the PureCadence so much with its rounded, slightly wider toe box. The toe box on the Ravennas is the same as its other core shoes, but I find them to be slightly narrow for me once I’m running more than six miles at a time. It is true that the shoes become more flexible as you put more miles on them. During the first 50 miles in them I felt that my right big toe would rub a bit on the inner side, but now I don’t notice that anymore.

In a nutshell, if you like the Brooks Ravenna or you are a runner in need of some support and prefer a traditional running shoe, these are your ticket.

Please note: I am a Brooks Running Run Happy Ambassador and receive free products to test each month. I’ve had a partnership with Brooks for nearly six years, and they are the only running brand I have a collaboration with and support. Brooks sent me these shoes for free, but I also regularly purchase Ravennas and PureCadence on my own. All opinions about Brooks products shared on runladylike.com are my honest, uncensored opinions. While I love the Brooks Running brand dearly, the fact that they send me monthly gear for free will never influence what you read about the effectiveness of the products here or on my social media channels. There are affiliate links contained within this post.

Have you run in the new Brooks Ravenna 9? If so, tell us what you think about the updates.