In Which Brooks Ravenna Sneakers… Are Launches Now?!

I wrote a blog post about Brooks sneakers a week or two ago. I was going to post it today, and it was going to go like this:

There are many reasons the Brooks Ravenna is my GOAT shoe, but none of them would be any help to me if they weren’t so darned consistent. My first Ravennas were model #4, and I have used every version since up to the current #11. Every version has been a winner.

But that doesn’t mean that there haven’t been any changes from iteration to iteration. In fact, I noticed a pretty obvious change between my old #10s and new #11s. Can you spot it? Check out the photo above.

Brooks sorts their running shoes into four categories, or “experiences” as they call them: cushion, trail, energize, and speed. For as long as I can remember, and per the insole, the Ravenna has been an “energize” shoe, defined by “springy and responsive cushioning.” But the #11s are now “speed” shoes, designed “for race day performance”!

I’m still digging my pair, but I was curious as to why the Ravenna shifted categories. Naturally I asked Brooks Running’s Twitter account, and they delivered!

END OF ORIGINAL BLOG POST

Why? BECAUSE IT’S NO LONGER RELEVANT.

Why? BECAUSE BROOKS HAS ELIMINATED THEIR STABILITY LINE AND THERE ARE NO RAVENNAS ANYMORE.

WHAT.

All I did was try and go back and double-check the product page to make sure I hadn’t missed something obvious about the switch, only I discovered there IS NO RAVENNA PRODUCT PAGE ANYMORE.

Apparently what they’ve done is paired all their old stability shoes with their neutral lines, and you can get those shoes now either with or without stability guiderails. The Brooks Ravenna is now the Brooks Launch GTS.

REPEAT: THERE ARE NO MORE BROOKS RAVENNAS. Perhaps you think this is an awful lot of capital letters for such an announcement. But THERE ARE NO MORE BROOKS RAVENNAS. No more of the Brooks Ravennas I’ve been using since 2013. Somebody hold me. I’m scared!

I went back to Brooks for comfort:

(By the way, whoever runs their Twitter account is 100% on point. They almost always reply when tagged.)

I mean, obviously I’m going to try the Launch GTS. Who knows; maybe I’ll love it just as much and it’ll be okay. But in the meantime, I have two more brand spankin’ new pairs of Ravennas in my arsenal, plus a pair with less than 100 miles on it in the current rotation. I shouldn’t need a new pair for a year or so. Although they are $10 cheaper now, so that’s something I guess.

Thus I shall make the most of what time the Ravennas and I have left together. I hear it’s better to have loved and lost than never have loved at all, so… WE’LL SEE ABOUT THAT.

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