CARYN: I’m not cool enough to receive many packages that have the amount of rizz, as the youths say, that the Maverick offered, which made the experience of opening it extremely fun. I was less enamored by the box and more thrilled to see a tiny scale included for me to weigh my exact model. The shoe nerd in me was thrilled!
When I popped my US W8.5 Maverick on the scale, it weighed in at a very slight 6.7 oz. When trying to cut weight, I often find that brands sacrifice aspects that make a shoe, well, a shoe — such as the structure and integrity of the upper. The Maverick feels extremely light underfoot but retains an actual shape and structure throughout, contributing to its versatility and stability. There is ample room in the toe box for those with a wider forefoot, but I didn’t experience any movement or issues with the laces. I always love a white shoe, even if it’s a little bit dull, so that helped the Maverick’s cause.
On the run, the Maverick feels immediately peppy. The shoe is light and responsive, as well as comfortable at a variety of paces. I never took the shoe out for a proper speed workout, but it fared well for some uptempo work, long runs, and easy runs. TYR claims that the Maverick’s FlightTime foam increases forward propulsion by increasing time in the air and reactive strength index by 4% (I feel like I’ve heard something like this before…). While I didn’t quite collect that level of detailed data, I can undoubtedly say that the foam feels energetic and responsive.
The shoe features an 8 mm drop with a 43 mm heel stack. While this is certainly not a minimalist shoe, the Maverick feels far more connected to the ground than others I’ve used. As someone who likes to run decently high mileage but doesn’t enjoy a heavily cushioned, mushy feeling shoe, I really appreciate that the Maverick can be worn for a distance, but you have more control over the shoe thanks to its platform width and supercritical foam midsole.
