HOKA  Skyward X Road-Running Shoes - Men's

I was super skeptical of this max stack plated beast. It wasn’t long into runs that I started giggling like a kid jumping around wearing moon boots. Surprisingly, I can comfortably keep a pace that I can otherwise only do with super trainers and race shoes (technically, I wouldn’t call this a super trainer). I mix in the Mach X 2 for a delightfully bouncy combo that allows me to load miles, recover and do speed work. It does run a bit narrow and it’s just clownishly massive. Not sold on the looks or tall heel counter either. Otherwise, this has got to be the most fun shoe I’ve put on my feet.

The combination of max cushioning and the plate helped me overcome some chronic foot/ankle injuries while keeping up the mileage. I would agree with others that they don’t feel heavy, at least on shorter runs, which is I suspect due to the change in gait this type of shoe produces. By 8-10 miles, though, I could definitely notice the difference from a lighter shoe. The other downside of this type of shoe is you feel less connected to what you are stepping on (kind of a floaty feeling) which can make them feel less stable on slopes, gravel, broken pavement etc. They are also expensive. When I first started in them, I had some minor knee pain for a couple weeks due to the different gait. All that said, for my intended purpose, which was maintaining/increasing mileage on pavement despite chronic foot/ankle issues, they are fantastic.

During my 1st warm-up jog, that is usually at about 10:30 per mile pace, my app told me I was doing 9:14 - Did not feel like that. Finished a 4-mile jog at an average of 9:11. I'm a 52-Y.O. runner. This pace for a 'practice jog', where all I wanted was to break-in to these shoes left me amazed.