The Drop The Dirt Division E019 | How We Review (ft. Max King)
Mar 4, 2026
Max King, elite American trail and ultrarunner known for Barkley Marathons runs and a long competitive career. He talks about trail running’s golden age and deeper competition fields. He explains longevity strategies, navigation training, making tough bail decisions at Barkley, and his partnership with Kailas Fuga and its versatile EX Pro foam.
AI Snips
Chapters
Transcript
Episode notes
Don't Immediately Blame The Shoe
- When a run or injury goes badly, first assume it's your training before blaming the shoe.
- Robbe and Thomas both describe mentally checking fitness, sleep, and recent load before declaring footwear the cause.
A Review That Became A Blame Story
- Meaghan recalled the 361° Ushuaia 2 review and later getting a metatarsal stress fracture, which she later attributed mostly to overtraining.
- The story illustrates how reviewers can still assign blame to shoes even when other factors dominate.
Qualitative Experience Outweighs Specs For Trail Shoes
- Trail shoe performance is dominated by qualitative human experience because quantitative lab numbers get skewed by terrain and individual differences.
- Thomas argues reviewers should emphasize lived experience over raw spec comparisons for trail shoes.