The Pegasus 36 is meant to be a fast, streamlined running shoe. And designers tailored the fit to meet that goal.
Nike wrapped the entire shoe in a seamless engineered mesh upper. The single piece of mesh not only gives the shoe a clean look, but it keeps weight down by foregoing any overlays or external supports.
Inside, designers sewed the tongue into a mesh bootie. That decision gives the shoe a snug feel around your midfoot, and it keeps the tongue from moving around when you're running.
Many running shoes employ six standard lacing holes up each side and an empty seventh hole at the top to give runners a way to tweak the fit if they need to. The Peg 36, though, only has five standard holes and an empty sixth at the top of the shoe.
Using only five lace holes frees up the forefoot, so the only thing that has to bend when you toe off is the supple mesh. A Fleet Feet tester says he likes the natural feel of the forefoot.
“Because it doesn’t lace that far down the shoe, it doesn’t squeeze the widest part of my foot,” he says. “Even with wider feet, this shoe feels really comfortable.”
To cinch the laces, Nike also used its Flywire cables around the midfoot. There are four sets of cables that reach up like fingers around your midfoot. Each cable loop anchors under the footbed, which lets you tighten the laces as much as you want without pulling on the mesh alone.
One feature our testers like is the new tongue. Nike slimmed down the tongue to trim a bit of weight from the shoe, and they gave it an asymmetrical shape at the top for more coverage on the outside of your ankle.
Another unique feature of the Pegasus is the heel collar. Beginning with the Pegasus 35, designers shaped the heel collar to flare away from a runner’s Achilles tendon, and that design carried over into the new Peg 36. Our testers say the flared collar keeps the shoe from rubbing on their heels.
One Fleet Feet tester says he noticed his heel slipping slightly when he walked around in the shoe but forgot about it when he started running. He says it didn’t cause any problems. Nike also included the extra eyelet at the top of the shoe so runners can try the marathon lacing technique if they need it.