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MERRELL MTL ADAPT MATRYX - Full Review!
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Dec 9, 2024
Mike P takes the MTL Adapt Matryx out for a spin in wet, muddy, rooty terrain near the Oregon coast. Get all the details on this new long distance model from Merrell, then come along for a run with ride analysis along the way. Little bit of everything here - climbs, descents, twists, turns, road, forest, trail cleanup, and even a run in with a mama bear and cubs! May 2025 release. $180 04:12 On the run 06:26 Agility, Flex Grooves impact 10:26 Comparison to more flexible shoes 12:00 Little bit steep climbing 13:28 Sizing notes 15:46 Bear encounter Also in review: @UltrAspireHydration Legacy 3.0 Race Vest rnnr Pacer cap Song: Natural Phenomena Music by: CreatorMix.com Video: https://youtu.be/v2DerSDbfCg
View Video Transcript
0:07
[Music]
0:17
hello this is Mike P from Road trail run
0:19
today I'll be bringing you our review of
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the Merill MTL adapt Matrix this is
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Merl's longdistance shoe it joins their
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really great model lineup including the
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long Sky 2 the Skyfire 2 Matrix and also
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the agility Peak this shoes a little bit
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different though first I'll walk you
0:39
through some of the specs and then later
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we'll go out and I'll show you some
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clips out on the run when I was testing
0:44
the shoe out in Oregon as you can see a
0:47
little bit more muddy out there than
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some of my typical Trails here in boisey
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we have 36 mm under the heel 30 under
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the 4T the foam is Merrill's float proo
0:58
foam um it's a dual Den it setup co-
1:01
molded I believe it's a nitrogen infused
1:05
Eva on the exterior that wraps an inner
1:10
nitrogen infused TPU so it's a little
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bit softer underf foot on the exterior
1:16
you have that kind of higher density
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foam that gives it a little bit of
1:20
durability a little bit of control um in
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terms of that foam being too squishy
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underfoot we've got vbra Mega grip 4 mm
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lug
1:30
as you can see something that's part of
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this shoe and probably the reason why
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they called it the adapt is you have
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these Flex grooves here along the side
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and also as you'll see later on on the
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Run there's Flex grooves built into the
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base of the midso directly under the
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foot going both lengthwise and
1:48
horizontally and that allows the shoe to
1:50
flex a bit more than you would actually
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think when you're handling it so as I
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flex this it does appear to be a quite
2:00
stiff I
2:02
do get some twisting here but it's not a
2:05
shoe that you could easily fold over and
2:07
that's something I'll talk about on the
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run during the ride section but getting
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back to the outsole here you can see how
2:13
there's a lot of segmentation here this
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there's no connection between the
2:16
outsole here there's no connection
2:19
there's a big X spot right here small
2:21
connections here on the outside big gap
2:25
here so it's not a fully connected
2:27
Rubber and I think that works in
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conjunction with the adapt setup of the
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midsole itself so allows everything to
2:33
have a flexible feel more so than you
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could actually see when you're handling
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the shoe in hand so taking a look at the
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upper here we have a matrix upper
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similar to The Long sky in the Skyfire
2:45
really great love the upper a little bit
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more width across the toe box a little
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bit more volume in the toe box it's it's
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designed for longer distances so that's
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to be expected I have a 9.5 in all three
2:57
shoes those feel snugger of course
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course this one's slightly more relaxed
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so whatever size you're wearing in those
3:04
I wouldn't be worrying about this one
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feeling snug they seem to give you a
3:08
little bit extra space in this one one
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thing to note is I do like what they did
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with the heel collar here they didn't go
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with these kind of racy type collars
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here there's some small bolstering on
3:21
the inside of these and then this kind
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of floppy edging here it allows debris
3:25
to get in I feel like these heel collars
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on these two shoes they're a little bit
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loose and the heel counter and the heel
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cup material is actually a little bit
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firm with this one here they went with a
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more standard setup you have bolstering
3:40
all around it's pretty pretty kind of
3:44
normal and I don't notice that firmness
3:46
in the heel cup it really wraps the heel
3:49
well I think this is a much better heel
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I would like to see actually this kind
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of setup in those two shoes it might add
3:55
a few grams more of weight but I think
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the Comfort um and the security would be
4:00
improved on those shoes if they had this
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heel cup and this heel setup right here
4:05
so that about wraps it up let's head out
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on the run and let's talk about the ride
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see how it performs out on the
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trails woo it's the heck of a steep hill
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here Flex connect
4:27
midsole really feels good right now
4:30
good Flex
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[Music]
4:51
climbing all right so I'm out here
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testing the Merill MTL adapt Matrix I'm
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out here in Oregon C to se Trail
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Corvalis to Coast or Coast to
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Corvalis uh I guess you can go either
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direction it's definitely a logging Zone
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here guess they they do a section at a
5:17
time and let it regrow I've seen some
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regrowth areas I've been on this kind of
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Logging Road for a little while I see
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this Junction coming up right here
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finally going to dip off into some trail
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here looks a little rugged in here we'll
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see how it
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goes oh
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wow this is pretty
5:45
cool a little more damp than
5:50
boisey a little bit more shade too I'll
5:53
say
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[Music]
6:26
so as you can see from a couple of those
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clips back there
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um quite agile for such a high stack
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shoe I actually measured higher than the
6:38
reported spec I'll put that up on the
6:40
screen but yeah those Flex connect
6:44
midsole
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grooves really are noticeable under the
6:48
ball of the foot in comparison to say
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the agility Peak
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model that shoe has a rock plate and has
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a rocker that it's really much further
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up closer to the toes that shoe feels a
7:02
little stiff to me I don't feel as
7:05
comfortable running that shoot back down
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there that I just came through these are
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unplated you have kind of like a grid of
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those Flex grooves long ways and
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horizontally within the midsole I have
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really good feel on the forefoot even
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though the midso is quite full under the
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Arch when I was coming in here on the
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road um a little segment to get to the
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trail it was noticeable how full the
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midso is the curvature is under the arch
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um not in an obtrusive way at least for
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me um feels very supportive I like it on
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harder terrain say kind of like on the
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road or hard
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pack it's very
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supportive you can kind of land on that
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middle of the foot it absorbs most of
8:03
the impact and then you roll right
8:05
through to the ball of the foot but then
8:09
when you get into some more kind of
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Trail terrain like that I tend to go a
8:16
little bit or probably a lot more up on
8:20
my
8:21
forefoot so that
8:24
flexibility really I felt totally
8:26
comfortable I mean you could see the
8:29
trail is covered in leaves so I don't
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necessarily see what I'm exactly landing
8:35
on if it's a divot a ditch or a rock
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underneath or whatever
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but it's not something you think about
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ahead of time but when the shoe feels
8:45
good on the run you just naturally feel
8:49
more
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comfortable if you don't necessarily see
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what you're landing on cuz I think
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instinctively you realize that oh if I
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land on something uneven I'm going to be
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able to react quickly cuz I could feel
9:04
it got to hop a hop a stick
9:08
here so yeah I'm loving that mix of
9:13
support and fullness under the arch and
9:17
under the heel that's great for
9:19
descending and then the flexibility
9:24
really under the bow ofoot going back to
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the agility Peak
9:30
the flex of that one it's really feels
9:33
more like a rocker where you get it up
9:35
by the toes and it feels more stiff this
9:38
one right ahead of the midfoot arch area
9:43
you feel the flex coming through so I
9:47
feel really connected more so under the
9:51
ball of my foot than just up ahead at
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the base of the toes if that makes sense
9:58
so basically these feel a lot more agile
10:03
and versatile than the agility Peak W
10:06
wet
10:10
Bridge didn't fall
10:13
down we do have vbr mega
10:17
grip kind of tracking myself and Gaia
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here should be coming up on a nice
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climbing section here this is post the
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running event I'm an
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organ I've been recently testing the Las
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portiva prodigio Pro and the norda
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o5 not to
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compare this shoe to those shoes
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specifically but just to give you kind
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of a flavor of the kind of underfoot
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feel that I've been working with
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recently kind of things flowing in my
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mind all three of the is
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shoes interestingly are
11:00
unplated so that is one
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similarity those
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shoes difference not that this is a
11:07
comparison
11:09
again but those shoes are more flat
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under the arch and under the heel
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they're even more agile than this shoe
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of course that's what they're div
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designed for especially the lasportiva
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more of a mountain design Nora's pretty
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much I gu test that more but seems like
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that one could go anywhere but you're
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more flatter under the arch you have
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more ground
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feel throughout your whole foot not just
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under the ball of the
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foot these are kind of more of a
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cruiser
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distance with
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that great 4ft feel that I was talking
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about so this is more kind of a mixed
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feeling and than those other two shoes
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going up
12:11
here so if you can see there on that
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grade I'm not sure about this grade 8 or
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10% the
12:18
flex
12:20
beginning under the ball of the foot is
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really nice on the uphills I don't feel
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like I any sluggishness kind of trying
12:28
to
12:29
push through to engage a
12:33
rocker that's more
12:36
oriented at the
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toes so when I'm climbing like
12:43
that I feel like I get that flex and
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engagement right away which makes the
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climbing feel really smooth of course
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the higher drop also helps with that not
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stretching out
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the ailles lower leg as
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much it's a very smooth climber for a
13:07
high tech shoe look at this Trail oh my
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God this is
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fantastic I'll note on sizing here I've
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got these in the US
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9.5 uh they felt a little bit snug right
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out of the box I was worried I might
13:36
need a 10 but
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actually these have broken in a little
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bit after the first one or two runs they
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felt much better so I'm actually I got
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to pick up this
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garbage um so they've actually opened up
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quite a bit and I'm
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happy that I've got the N9 and a half so
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I've got nine and a
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half in the long sky and the sky fire
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and also these those two Matrix ones
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those are more of a race fit than these
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so I'm a little I'm snug in a 9 and a
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half but for shorter distances that's
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great they seem to have built in
14:20
definitely withd in the 4 foot with
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these and I have no problem with length
14:27
at a n and a half
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so happy with the sizing here true to
14:34
size so I've hit my a lotted time for
14:37
this outing 5 miles in hit a good
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turnaround Point here there's a little
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bit of climb here nice spot to turn
14:44
around head back on the
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trail that about wraps it up for the
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Merill
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MTL adapt Matrix I'll be doing the full
14:53
written review on the road trail run
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website I'll put more appropriate comps
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in there similar
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shoes
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uh this is a great shoe from Merill
15:06
really loving it Matrix upper they took
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some of the cool stuff from the long sky
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and the sky fire
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models and made a nice and versatile
15:19
distance shoe here really love it so any
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questions or comments comps that you
15:25
want to see on the written website leave
15:27
a comment here see you out there on the
15:32
[Music]
15:39
[Music]
15:46
trails hey
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bear hey
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bear hey
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bear definitely just saw black B
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bear and two Cubs right in the middle of
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the
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trail I think I'm good now hey bear
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