CHAD: The Ghost Max line and I share a special relationship for a couple of reasons, actually. First, whenever I need to remember how long I’ve been writing for Believe in the Run, I can look at the Ghost Max, because this is my third year with BITR, and this is the third iteration of the shoe. So as long as Brooks keeps making it annually, even if my memory starts to fade, I’ll always know how long I’ve been bringing you all top-notch Big Guy running shoe reviews. The second reason is that I’ve been fortunate enough to run in all three versions of this shoe, so I can see exactly how the Ghost Max has evolved since its inception.
The evolution of the Ghost Max from the OG to this version has been quite a journey. The original was a new venture for Brooks, finally branching out into the max stack game and a drop lower than 8 mm. I thoroughly enjoyed the performance of that shoe, but the aesthetics were… meh. With the second attempt, Brooks significantly improved the aesthetics of the Ghost Max 2 with the white on white colorway (overall style aside, because it looked like a mall walker’s shoe); however, I felt the shoe only moderately improved in performance. Despite having DNA Loft v3 foam, which was supposed to be softer as it was nitrogen-infused, I thought the ride felt firmer but a bit more responsive. Less recovery-oriented, more daily trainer vibes.
The Ghost Max 3, on paper, does not make many significant changes from the 2nd version; basically just an upper update. How does the Ghost Max 3 stack up to the two prior versions in performance? Let’s find out.
