 Lost track of the forest through the trees forgot what I was chasing Spent so many nights living out at sea that my heart is gone back in Everybody who was close to me all stayed on dry land So now I'm driving back on in the state West. I just gotta feel something Where to the morning Because something's gonna change my mind. I don't want to change my mind Lap three in the books. We're going for a baby. We're gonna get another lap in the sun is shining I still got I think I have enough time before getting back to the family So another lap number four Mount Morrison. It's gonna get a little little little agua fourth loop in the bank. Oh, baby Gonna have another egg McMuffin That last loop hurt one through three Not so bad fourth loop Dive in to the innovate mudclaw g260 definitely needs some deep blue rub tonight. Oh man Thank you again Scott for sending this. I'll explain why in a minute with respect to the vertical gain today All right zesty. Oh, yeah deep blue rub feeling good on the legs Okay, this is not my full review as you well know I like to put 50 miles into a shoe before doing a full review This is just my first impressions of the innovate mudclaw. Holy smokes. Okay today's run Let me just run you through the specs here 15 miles 24 kilometers 8700 feet of vertical gain or 2600 meters wasn't quite expecting to do that much Vertical gain, but the legs felt good the shoes were gripping the mud and things were clicking along and so innovate Was founded in 2003 so not too long ago 15 or 16 years ago in the British Fel country, so what are the fells basically? It's this region in kind of upper Northwest England where it gets it's really rainy And there's hills there and the hills are great for running But they're very very muddy so the connection between these between their lineup of shoes is really connected to rain to mud and to Persevering in one's training through the elements no matter what the elements might be So that's the really brief backstory of innovate and for the mudclaw Let's dive into a few specs real quick it has a four millimeter drop from heel to toe and I just put the shoe on the scale and it's my my shoe is coming in at 12 ounces But this shoe is soaked with water from today and sweat so I think it's actually being advertised Closer to nine ounces. I think my shoe is a little heavy heavy right now because it has water in it from today's run So maybe check back tomorrow I'll put it out in the sun a little bit let it dry out and I think the weight will drop down significantly And then of course, okay for this this first impression I'm not gonna run through the the upper or the midsole I will save that for the full review after 50 miles in the shoe But there is the there is the outsole and the outsole is probably the most exciting part of the shoe Look at the lugs on this thing. They are eight millimeters deep That's right eight millimeters try to wrap your mind around that lug depth and it is made out of a Graphene-based rubber and we're gonna talk more about that in a minute, but just soak in Those lugs on the bottom Frankly it puts every other shoe I've ever worn kind of to shame when it comes to the grip in a muddy condition Just just say just calling it right now. I felt in complete control going up the mountain today Mount Morrison and back down the mudclaw also has a Metaflex right where your toes connect to the to the ball of your foot and to basically your midfoot and it basically allows for a little extra flex for when you're climbing up the mountain and I could feel it today so good job innovate thinking of Creating this little area or region of the outsole that allows just a little extra flex and again I'm gonna save the upper and the midsole for the full review the outsole I'm actually gonna I'm actually gonna read from the innovate website here. Okay, so in 1555 Graphite was first mined in the Lake District Fells of Northern England in 2004 scientists at the University of Manchester Isolated graphene from graphite and then fast-forwarding to 2018 Innovate launches the first ever sports footwear to utilize graphene delivering the world's toughest grip That's amazing. So this is like really really new technology for really the entire world's running shoe lineup And again, let me just read one more thing Previously athletes had to choose between a sticky rubber that works well in wet or sweaty conditions But wears down quicker in a harder rubber that is more durable But not quite as grippy through intensive research hundreds of prototypes and thousands of hours of testing in both the field and laboratory Athletes now no longer need to compromise the new rubber. We have developed With the National Graphene Institute at the University of Manchester allows us to smash the limits of grip So I don't know all the science you can go learn more at the innovate website But basically this out this outsole is something special And I will say I am going to be Fascinated as always to see what the durability will be for these lugs and even where the lugs are protruding from the actual base of the outsole because right now I can feel with my fingers the grip just like running my fingers over the Outsole and it's exciting and today but again like you know like here in the Rocky Mountains It's a mixture of mud and rock So I'll just be curious to see how the outsole holds up Whereas obviously in the fell and Lake District over in England where the shoe really would probably perform at its best It would prop the the lifespan of the outsole would probably be much much longer All right now. Let's get down to the good stuff. How did they actually perform on Mount Morrison today for? 8700 feet up and 8700 feet down all right first a couple of minor minor drawbacks The the lugs actually caused me to trip two or three times basically I caught like these lugs are just so intense I wasn't quite used to them and I basically I think they're gonna teach me to lift my legs up a little bit when I'm in this shoe because I caught the lugs on some rocks like I said two or three times I didn't fall over it just was a little bit of a catch and I just had to catch my step and for some positives first of all The water from the snow and the mud today was so I did four laps up and down Mount Morrison for two and a half laps I didn't feel any water in the shoes So I would say as far as keeping the water out they did pretty darn good By lap by the top of the third lap I could feel my feet getting pretty wet But I mean what do you what are you gonna do like and I did not use the gators that came with the shoe today? I think I'll try the gators next time just to just to see how they perform So anyway, that was a good that was a bonus that the water was kept out pretty well and then also a solid lockdown feel through the upper on the top of the foot the combination of the lacing system and The eyelets and just how the the upper basically wrapped around the top of my foot and the tongue Oh, man, it just was very a very nice comfortable lockdown feel. I didn't have to relays Once that's a miracle like most brand new shoes that I that I test out I have to stop in the middle of the first run and relays because I either tied them to loose or most often time too tight So in conclusion This shoe gave me Freedom that's right. This shoe gave me freedom today to go explore a muddy Snowpacked trail that frankly I never would have even thought about touching a year ago I would have waited till May late April when the snow is all gone The mud is beginning to dry out this shoe allowed me and listen I've been up that trail before in other shoes, but I had no fear in this shoe So that's what I mean by when I say like in conclusion this shoe It gave me freedom to go to go out and I can't even imagine living in the fell country or the Lake District I don't know what you exactly call it But the Lake District in England and just being in horrible horrible weather and just being like it doesn't matter I'm going out my front door. I'm gonna go run some hills in some tall grass and ankle-deep mud and I'm gonna have a ball because I've got the mud claws on my side So mud claw that is the key word mud claw and the question of the day And this actually usually I don't connect the question of the day to the shoe The on the first impression of a shoe, so I'm gonna go this direction Have you ever thought about on your run the concept of freedom and how Running perhaps gives you freedom All right, and listen we've got people literally around the world watching this vlog And so I'll be curious to hear like do you experience a little bit of freedom when you're running because for me today? I felt free. I felt I felt in control in the mud. I felt free like I could go do anything So that is the question of the day. I know it's a little philosophical You might have to hit pause and think for a second like it or maybe you have a really specific Specific example of a run that you have done that you got it You got back to your car you got got back to your house and it was like I'm free like that was a like I just I Was just freedom out there just exploring and seeing new sites and experiencing a culture or experiencing a mountain so That is the question of the day. I'm fired up about the innovate Mudclaw G 260 and we will give you the full review after 50 miles stay tuned for that Which hopefully will happen pretty darn soon if you know what I mean Billy Jean. Oh, man. See beauty work hard Thank you Mark Peter. Thank you for making this happen