The result is a much improved hold of the mid foot, not constraining but there. The mid foot upper in particular is well reinforced with translucent overlays including the larger 'S' Skechers logo which is in my opinion a functional part of the upper. The Ride 4 has far fewer stitched overlays than the Ride 3 featuring more welded overlays. If I ran as fast and as long as these two did day in and day out my feet might want some extra support too! Upper and Heel Construction I have also run a bit in some of Meb Keflezighi and Kara Goucher's favorite Skechers the upcoming Strada and find its ride very different than the Ride 4, far more supportive, overly supportive for me in the mid foot midsole/outsole materials, proving Skechers also listens very carefully to these elites particular needs and executes. They welcome and listen to feedback and iterate very rapidly in subtle ways but also by completely changing direction if feedback tells them a design will not be able to meet an intended purpose. I have been involved for about a year in wear testing for Skechers and while I have not done wear testing for the Ride 4, I have for several other shoes. This meticulous, careful approach to improvements is characteristic of Skechers, an 'underdog' in the performance running shoe market ,yet one rising rapidly on the 'heels' of not only their star athletes such as Boston winner Meb Keflezighi and Kara Goucher but on the attention to feedback from many old slow pokes like me. durometer or firmness of midsole is unchanged at 47C, fairly firm for a midsole but as there is not much yet firmer outsole material still a fairly soft ride.still has M-Strike the slight raising of the mid foot midsole to encourage mid foot strike but less noticeable again maybe due to the narrowing of the midsole in the heel.a smooth softish ride on largely single density midsole material riding over the GOimpluse Sensors, the outsole wear pads.not exactly an improvement, Skechers are still a great value but the price goes from $80 to $85.I think this narrowing may move the foot off of the heel more rapidly as there is less softish midsole overhang. a slightly narrower heel outsole midsole towards the heel-about 1/4' narrower by my measurements in the area back of the 2 rear orange GOimpulse sensor wear pads.

The Ride 3 had no structure to the heel cup area.

a far more substantial and closer fitting heel collar and heel cup yet still not a rigid heel cup.

a new upper: more supportive over the mid foot with a bit less sloppy fit over the forefoot.

The GoRun Ride 4 has a number of significant yet subtle improvements over the Ride 3, I reviewed last year. Conveniently, it is also supplied with 2 types of laces: flat non stretch and a round lace. It has an 8 mm drop (heel/toe) with the included insole but can be run without the insole on a finished footbed for a 4mm drop. The Skechers GoRun Ride 4 is a 8.4oz light weight trainer.

Gorun ride 4 review