ASICS GEL-Cumulus 25

I had a stress reaction on my tibia and usually wear lower drop shoes, but when things weren't working for me I went to my local running shoe store and bought this shoe after asking my D1 running friends for advice. It feels great, no issues at all. I normally only buy running shoes on discount but bitting the bullet was worth it so I could stay healthy. I think that's the reason for the shoe being so under rated. The shoe does not run like a typical bulky Asics sneaker that I had grown to expect from the brand. 

The gel-cumulus 25 from asics has(in my opinion) one of the best looking designs of any trainers currently, in the "earth day" colorway, and that's about where the benefits end.

In this shoe's price range, there is the slightly older novablast 3, which has the same FFblast+ foam, but it feels so much better.

I'm not sure if the gel in the cumulus is canceling out any springiness, but it's a clash of feelings that ends up making the shoe feel dull and slow, if you are looking for an asics shoe at $160, I urge you to look elsewhere.

nothing crazy but a reliable trainer. 

I had been looking for a less expensive replacement for my Nike Free 3.0 v4. (The Frees were a gift for my father in 2012/2013, he never wore them, so he let me have them.)

The asics never quite broke in the way I wanted them to, or as easily as the Nikes did. Every time I ran in the past year I've had them it's been a fight with them. I still get my workouts and miles in but my feet and legs tend to feel beaten down afterwards. That first 3 months of runs were brutal. However, this might be because of my flat feet/overpronation and asics tendency to be more stability focused than Nike Free Runs.

In terms of wear, I wore a hole in the toe about a month into wearing. Whereas it took close to a year for my Nikes to reach that point. (Running workout shoes worn for running only so 3-4x a week). 

They work for the price point, however, I'm not sure if I can't say I want try them again.