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WH's health and fitness director lays out the pros and cons.

I've tried countless pairs of running shoes over the years throughout my career in health and fitness. I've also worn pretty much every activewear brand you can think of—and yet I still fall back on a number of tried-and-true pieces from one of the major players in the game: Lululemon. (Hello, Instill tights!)

So when I learned that Lululemon was releasing its first-ever sneaker line, I was psyched to get my hands on—and feet in—a pair.

A little background on what Lulu has been up to in the sneaker realm: This year, there will be four staggered women's footwear launches—a lineup that includes the Blissfeel running shoe, a training shoe in both low and mid styles, a hybrid running and training shoe, as well as a recovery slide. The first pair, the Blissfeel ($148, lululemon.com), is available to shop now.

You may be thinking, Well aren't all women's shoes created for...women? You'd think so! But no. In the past, many brands would take the design for the men's shoe and essentially shrink it and label it "women's."

These days, plenty of footwear brands are moving away from this and tinkering women's shoe iterations to account for anatomical and biomechanical discrepancies between men and women, like the fact that women tend to overpronate more than men, or that they tend to have more torso rotation and ankle flexion with each stride.

Lululemon's engineers and designers behind the Blissfeel utilized foot scans of millions female exercisers and runners and did several rounds of wear testing to create iteration after iteration until they nailed the fit. Love to hear it!

I had the privilege of taking the Blissfeel's for a test run at a media event led by Lululemon athlete ambassadors, including Colleen Quigley and Jasmine Blocker (!). So you can imagine that our two-ish-mile run was full of energy (and speed). I felt like I had a nice bounce within each step, yet the shoe didn't feel overly cushiony. I could maintain my control and connection to the pavement.

A post shared by Jasmine Blocker (@jas_blocker)

Since I first tested the sneakers with that road run, I've gone on to use them for additional shorter-distance outdoor runs between 2.5 and 4 miles, steady-state treadmill runs, and treadmill sprint bursts baked into HIIT workouts. I've preferred wearing them on the treadmill, for reasons below.

Overall, I find these sneakers really comfortable for my narrow foot, and they run true to size. I often have trouble with the toe box on running sneakers being too wide, allowing my toes and feet to shift around too much, leading to blisters or painful rubbing. Not with these! The upper is made of a durable stretchy knit material that almost conforms to your foot, and I had no fit problems at all.

A couple of editor friends mentioned feeling a little bit of rubbing at ankle during runs, but I didn't have this issue personally. Because of that, though, I'd suggest trying these with a higher ankle for added protection.

Upon taking the Blissfeels out of the box, I assumed they'd feel weightier than they actually did on my feet. They are surprisingly lightweight! The cushioning is thinner at the ball of the foot and midsole compared to the heel, which helped me feel super grounded and powerful in my takeoff, but still well-supported as I ran.

I did notice that, the mornings after running outdoors in the Blissfeels, my calves felt super fatigued, like they had to work extra hard to push on pavement the farther I ran. Interestingly, I didn't notice this at all after running on the treadmill and had an easier time feeling that energetic bounce in my stride on the machine. I've also been running indoors more than outdoors given that we're juuuust entering spring running whether, so I'm curious to see if my body adapts and gets stronger on the road in these.

On both surfaces, the soles felt really durable and kept me from skidding or slipping when making turns. I even tried treadmill side shuffles in these with no issues; I could move laterally with ease.

I'm someone who has a larger, size 9 foot, and I'm admittedly picky about any shoes that look weighty or awkward. When I took these out of the box, I worried they would make my feet appear wide (hey, just being real!)—but I was pleasantly surprised at how sleek and cool they looked—not bulky at all.

They also come in 10 gorgeous colors, ranging from green ray (a peachy color with the bright green sole, pictured) to silver drop (a gray-hued style) to flare (a neon red). I have the green ray pair as well as the classic black, and both look awesome with activewear *or* a t-shirt and jeans or a sporty dress.

I'd call myself an intermediate runner and I've have found my experience with these to be really positive. And trust me, I had high expectations for these sneaks given the quality of everything else from Lulu.

Whether you want to drop about $150 on a pair of running shoes is, well, entirely up to you. I find the price pretty comparable to other big-name sneaker brands, and on par with what Lulu generally costs. Happy running!