Lois, my 20 year old daughter, declared recently that she wanted to start running. I offered to buy her her first pair of running shoes. ‘You need running shoes?’ she asked. ‘Yes of course’ I said. ‘Why? What’s wrong with my plimsolls?’ I gave a wry smile the way only Dad’s can. A couple of hours later we were at Advanced Performance, the excellent running shop in Peterborough. It was only then that the full realisation of what was needed began to hit Lois. The first thing we saw was a guy in a shirt and tie running around the car park wearing new running shoes. ‘I’m not doing that! No way!’ ‘But you have to if you want the right shoes. They won’t sell you any shoes without you trying them out to make sure they are right for you.’ ‘Well I’m not running around the car park for any one!’ Half an hour later and with about ten pairs tried out and videoed on a running machine to check for pronation or supination (fancy terms referring to how your foot strikes the ground) and Lois was runnin...