Up next in 10
Is MORE too much? / HOKA MAFATE X / HUGE Stack! / FIRST RUN
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May 14, 2025
How about we add a carbon fiber plate? HOKA enters a new trail dimension here with the new MAFATE X.. Massive stack at 49/41mm, plus a forked carbon fiber plate. Yes, the weight is up there, but does this setup really work on trail? Its road sibling the Skyward X seems to do the job well (very fast road 100M anyone?). Mike P takes the Mafate X out for a first 10 mile spin on the trails, hitting a mix of terrain and ups and downs. How does this massive boi handle them???? Mike also revisits the spot where his drone flew away @HumbleRunning 👉 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vaiVgTN0hMA&list=PL6d8pVmxEoIRAuFZNn0E2jt4eerhUoNhZ 👉 Mike P's Trail Reviews here 👉 https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLU8zMeCLraQF1zi5EfGkWZVg1OdcjF9n8 👉 Check out my CLOSEUP MASHUP including many shoes reviewed on RoadTrailRun 👉 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bWYND9Tlgz8&list=PL6d8pVmxEoIRAuFZNn0E2jt4eerhUoNhZ Sample provided at no cost for test and review by HOKA Keep an eye out for the Full Multi Tester Review @RoadTrailRun 00:00 Intro 00:29 Up the hill 04:24 Heading back down - feeling quick 05:26 Rocky fun section - handling? 08:19 Cruising & closeup 11:29 Fast back down 12:41 Closing thoughts - GRAVEL?
View Video Transcript
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[Music]
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so So I'm heading up the big dirt road
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here it's not so much grally but hard
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pack dirt good uh cruising terrain
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smooth and easy but of course good
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amount of uphill one first tidbit I did
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want to share is about the drop the
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stack here is
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4941 that's uh pretty massive pea core
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with an EVA carrier the drop is 8 mil
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and posting some stuff at TR about this
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shoe
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and let me grab
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that this shoe and the regular MFA how
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they're moving to 8 mil drop people were
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I would say concerned after running in
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this shoe a couple miles now up the hill
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even right out of the box I'd say I
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would not be concerned about that higher
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drop hocas stated an intention with that
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was that the midsole is packed down
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anyway especially under the heel if you
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put something at four or six a lot of
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times it'll
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effectively end up or at least feel
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lower than that and I have to say this
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does not feel like a normal 8 mil drop
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it feels pretty balanced
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[Applause]
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overall certainly not a steep drop off
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from the heel to the forefoot
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the midsole
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itself 41 under the forefoot of primary
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concern to me as a 4 foot midfoot
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striker but it does feel very balanced i
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don't feel like I have a ton of chunk
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under the heel as that kind of 41 to 49
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mil difference might indicate i don't
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feel like I'm dragging a heel behind me
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as with some other shoes for example the
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Zagama
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2 but this does not feel pillowy soft i
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would say there's probably more EVA in
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the mix and I can get that hint of pea
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under the foot so it doesn't feel harsh
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of course you have a carbon fiber plate
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in the mix so it's pretty stiff overall
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i think that healthy amount of foam
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between the EVA and the PBIA dampens the
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harshness of the carbon fiber plate but
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it's not super soft i'm kind of
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surprised like the Tecton X3 that squish
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in that shoe and the shoe I mentioned
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before Zagama 2 that ZoomX foam like if
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you're looking for just
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softness those two definitely have a way
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softer feel than this one the weight is
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definitely a thing 12.4 O in my US10
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that's pretty hefty but I mean at a
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certain point you can't just keep going
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up and up and up and up and not expect
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to give something
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away they didn't really make any I guess
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kind of considerations for making it a
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super lightweight shoe perhaps in the
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regular
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Mafhate but the upper is kind of
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standard not super stripped down of
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course that amount of foam the
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plate full not full coverage outsole but
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Ver Mega Grip good amount of rubber
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under
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foot so it's not like they paired back
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certain elements to offset the stack
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they just kind of went
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up i did kind of pass by my little
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offshoot with the gravel that I wanted
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to run down i guess I was talking that's
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okay i can come up a little higher here
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and connect back
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down really fun coming down the descent
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here actually noticed that pee kind of
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bounce a lot more on this descent it's
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not that steep very runnable shallow
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descent here but it just feels really
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fun the carbon fiber plate and the pebba
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bounced of course I don't feel the
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weight going
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downhill so it's just really a
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great feel cruising
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downhill couple little rollers here
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generally on the way down and I noticed
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right away the weight you know feels so
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good cruising down then I had a little
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uphill kind of roller and then I'm like
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"Oh yeah it's heavy." Come to a bit of a
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more windy rocky section here we'll see
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how they hold up if I can manage them at
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4149
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[Music]
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[Music]
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underfoot all right here we go
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[Music]
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maybe a little more careful in other
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shoes but fine
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[Music]
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[Music]
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enough hey
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[Music]
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So I did find them surprisingly stable
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coming through that kind of rocky
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section back there
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i I didn't try to push them too much but
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I just naturally found myself feeling a
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little bit of
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confidence didn't feel like I was in
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danger of kind of tipping over rolling
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an ankle at any point which was pretty
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shocking considering how high they are
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the
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platform is not crazy wide throughout
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it's kind of like a standard Hoka ground
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platform
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they do have that they call it rear foot
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focused foot
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active foot cage something like that and
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maybe that does help a little bit i mean
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the middle of my foot coming down
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through there picking my way through a
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few definite uneven sections did not
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feel like it wanted to roll at all it
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felt again surprisingly stable
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[Music]
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little bit flat in that section there it
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cruise very well like in flats feels
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great downhill flats feel very cruisy
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very comfortable i think it's just the
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weight on the uphill kind of sticks out
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as I'm heading up
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now gravel
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Take a quick look at the sizing here in
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the upper i've got these in a US10 i
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typically do go up a half size up in
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Hoka i'm about a full maybe a touch less
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than a full thumb's width at a US 10
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which is perfect for me i find with
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about average it does seem to kind of be
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a little bit shallow on this side i felt
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it more in the beginning of the run
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after about I don't know how many miles
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here 8 miles or so of course you're
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going to get some bedding in with this
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amount of foam so I don't think vertical
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volume vertical space is going to be an
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issue in this shoe it rounds out nicely
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it's not a torpedo shape this is not a
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speed goat fit which does not work for
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me it fits more like more like the
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Mafates which do work for me so I do
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like this fit
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huge um cushioning around the interior
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of the heel the shoe is very stiff you
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could see there's not much it's got that
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meta rocker advanced metal rocker i'm
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not sure what they call it um but it
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doesn't flex too much so you're going to
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get some pulling of the heel out of the
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heel cup i did switch to a sock here
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that has a thicker heel padding to kind
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of help fill up the volume in here
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underneath this bolster and I haven't
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noticed any foot movement when I had
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thinner socks in I can definitely feel
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my heel wanting to pull up here again
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it's so stiff you have the carbon plate
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it's really hard to get around that so I
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would suggest if you can or if you have
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an issue put maybe a higher volume
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heel sock in there and that should solve
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the problem um not that it's a problem
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it's been great on this run so far not
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an issue but again these are a little
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bit thicker socks and at the 10 they fit
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good outsole you got the tacos and the
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pizzas little bit of fun there 3.5 mil
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lugs not full coverage but you have to
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keep some weight down look I guess you
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may catch some rocks in there if you are
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going to be on gravel
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um that was not planned yeah it seems to
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be performing well in the dry terrain i
11:01
went through those streams hit some kind
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of rocks after that didn't get any
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slippage it's Veebum Mega Grip so you
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should be good on the outsole so this is
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the kind of grally connector where I
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lost my
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drone a little afraid to use it here now
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but I'm running up it this time i'm
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gonna go back down the hill and this
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shoe is gonna be really fun running down
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that dirt road just the softness the
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cushion it's going to eat it up it's
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going to be
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fun i saw the water sprayer truck coming
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here that's why it's a little moist
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they spray down this road to contain the
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dust when it's very dry so I am
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running 549 pace right now on this
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little
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descent in a 12.4 ouncez
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shoe feels really
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great kind of smells funny though
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i wonder if this is not just
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water hitting the heel a little bit more
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on the
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downhill soaking up some of that
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downhill
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grade don't feel much don't really feel
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any foot sliding pretty secure in
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there i'm at
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529 at this moment foothold is good on
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the descent
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so that's a wrap for the first run in
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the Hoka Malf X i hope you enjoyed
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coming along with me on this one i'll be
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about a little over 10 miles by the time
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I get home again this is just first run
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first impressions we will have a full
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multi- tester review coming at Road
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Trail Run so keep an eye out for
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that um it's a great cruiser shoe the
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weight is up there not going to deny
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that but on flats and descents it feels
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really good of course you know you got
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to carry it up the hills that's the
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thing but I could see it being very easy
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to pile on miles in the shoe especially
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if you don't have very steep ups and
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downs say
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rolling flat terrain gravel you know i
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mean this will just soak up mileage so
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thank you for watching and keep an eye
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out for that full
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review guess they missed a spot here
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heat heat
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[Music]
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