ASICS Men's Frequent Trail Running Shoes (8.5)

These arrived today, and I'm very happy with them. I am a woman who has worn Asics shoes for walking and for work for many years now. I always bought Asics size 9 1/2 womens. I felt somewhat confident ordering the men's 8 because it is 41.5 euro size, same as my women's Asics pairs. Really wanted the all-black color and the great tread on the sole - it is hard to find shoes with a good gripping tread. I read all the reviews before buying and many mentioned the glued in insoles. They are coated on the back with stripes of very tacky adhesive and I was able to grab them with pliers at the edge and pull them out cleanly with a little effort. I pulled the insoles out with pliers to make room for Superfeet insoles which I need to wear in pretty much all my shoes. Without the factory footbed I was able to fit the heavy Superfeet Copper Insole and it's just great to be able to fit those in there with a fair amount of sock. I also modify the insole with a pad for Morton's Toe and there is no issue with room for all that sock, insole and pad in the roomy toe box. The shoe laces that come with these are thick and round and I didn't like them. I had a pair of plain black ones from a previous pair of Asics that I wore out, I kept the laces when I thew the worn out shoes away, the laces showed no sign of wear. With the plain black laces that have a bit of a lower profile, these shoes look great! I don't think they look any bulkier or different than women's Asics. I have a narrow heel and was worried about that area for fitting. But one good thing about these shoes is that the back of the shoe where it comes up over the heel is pretty structured and padded, I need that, and also, I think it possibly comes up a little higher in the men's shoe than the women's. This is good because the Copper Superfeet insole had raised my foot up too high in some women's shoes, to where my heel was popping up out of the shoe. One more thing I think is really important about this style. I had a pair of Asics trail hiking shoes before, the Fuji Attack style. These had a serious design flaw in that the back of the sole at the heel stuck out really far. I guess this is supposed to give you stability. It is a safety problem on stairs! When you are going down a flight of stairs, that back of the heel sticking out so far, catches on the step if you aren't completely conscious of it for every step! It seems really dangerous on stairs to have the back stick out so far. These don't do that, I could see in the pictures that they don't. What a relief to find such a good pair of Asics at such a good price, the right color and so much good room in the toe box for the insoles and socks. I had enough confidence that they would work out that after I ordered the first pair, I ordered another pair before the first one even got here. It isn't often that you find a shoe that really ticks all the boxes like these do. I have them on right now and they feel great. I'm going to pay attention to people's reports that they felt they were slippery on wet surfaces and I will make sure to wear them a fair amount of dry pavement to scuff up the soles a little and hope to alleviate any possible issue with slipperiness. Hope this helps someone and that some woman might read this and order a man's size with a little less trepidation. Can't wait to go for a walk! I really needed these shoes, I didn't even realize how much I needed them until I got them.