GBM Staff Shoe Review

Brooks Revel 6:  Pittsburgh Marathon Edition

SPECS:

Weight	Men 8.8oz / Women 8.1oz
Stack Height (Heel to Toe Drop)	31mm / 21 mm (10mm)
Release Date	3/15/2024
MSRP	$100
Support	Neutral

For the past few years, Brooks has had a partnership with P3R, a sports coordination company based in Pittsburgh. P3R coordinates and hosts various sporting events including the Pittsburgh Marathon. Through this partnership, Brooks has offered a Pittsburgh Marathon colorway of a shoe in their lineup. In the past few iterations, it has been the lightweight Brooks Launch and the Brooks Trace, each featuring a familiar colorway that yinzers and Pittsburgh sports fans know and love. This year, they chose the do-it-all trainer, Brooks Revel 6, to wear the black and gold.

This year is also the first time Gingerbread Man Running Co. has had the opportunity to bring in the Marathon Edition, and since it isn’t a shoe that’s part of our normal Brooks rotation, we gave a few pairs to our staff and asked them to run/work out in them and share their feedback so we could better understand its pros and cons.  This outline is a result of their work and we have decided to share it with our blog in hopes that it can help others as well!

Noah (from Greensburg):  Like the Brooks shoes I have experienced in the past, the Brooks Revel has high arch support that feels really good on my flatter feet.  Brooks included their firm yet comfortable DNA Loft cushioning which makes for a nice supportive base to the shoe. Moving up to the top of the shoe, Brooks gave us a breathable knit mesh upper and a toe box that accommodates my wider foot. From a support standpoint, this shoe best fits a neutral gait and doesn’t include specific support for pronation.

Brooks absolutely nailed the color this year. The shoe features a yellow sole and black mesh upper. The Brooks logo and tongue dawn a black, white, and yellow stripe design that reminds me of Pittsburgh's sports teams. On the inside of the shoe on the heel, Brooks added a Pittsburgh logo with a bridge to bring the colorway together. The shoe does an excellent job representing the city of Pittsburgh and gives Pittsburgh runners and fans a shoe that is unique to their city.

Overall the shoe has worked really well for me as a gym shoe/work shoe and the unique Pittsburgh colorway has gotten a lot of positive attention and compliments from Pittsburgh runners and fans alike.

Keith (from Shadyside):  The Brooks Revel 6 is an agreeable lightweight and neutral trainer that offers runners a non-structurally invasive road-running trainer. It is a viable option for anyone who enjoys a modest degree of energy return while still being able to feel the ground under their feet. Its versatility and sharp design make it a fantastic option for performing any number of activities of daily living ranging from going for a cup of coffee at a local cafe to a typical gym session. The Pittsburgh Marathon edition of this shoe combines all the previously mentioned hallmarks of the Revel 6 with the indomitable and celebrated black and gold of Steel City. Its striking colorway and subtle pattern display leave no question as to which city is being represented.

Though the Revel 6 is a welcomed addition to my training collection and a shoe that I look forward to wearing when the 2024-2025 football season begins, it isn't a trainer I can use daily. I am a runner that overpronates and has almost non-existent corrective support. Because of this biomechanical deviation, I lean more toward footwear that offers more structure and inherent stability, such as the Ghost Max, or with more corrective support, like the Adrenaline GTS series. The lack of these structural aspects makes the Revel 6 incompatible with my daily comfort and performance. Within minutes of wearing this Brooks model, I was strikingly aware that my feet were collapsing toward the midline of my body, which caused me considerable pain the longer I wore them. Additionally, the toe box, while silhouette-friendly, ran too narrow for my foot, causing my smaller toes to feel pinched.

Overall, the Pittsburgh Marathon incarnation of the Revel 6 is visually striking, a well-crafted homage to the city of bridges that neutral runners and aesthetic chasers will gravitate strongly toward. However, aesthetics aside, if you are a runner who requires more structure and stability to help mitigate a chronic condition or wants to simply be able to enjoy your run pain-free, there may be better options out there for you.

Final Verdict:  This shoe is probably best pulled for runners who appreciate a more minimal outline, or for the person looking for a shoe that’s good to fill multiple roles as a gym shoe / running shoe / casual shoe option.  While we think you will see a lot of these pairs at the expo, we would be surprised to see them on a ton of feet during the race itself.

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