I AM delighted to tell you that my gait is neutral.

That doesn't mean that the railings at the end of my path are painted in an inoffensive shade of magnolia.

It means that my gait, the way in which I walk and run, is pretty much straightforward up and down, with only a mild turning out of my toes.

I can tell you this having been put through my paces by Martin Dowdall, branch manager at Up And Running in Manchester's Triangle shopping centre.

The store has a clever piece of gait analysis kit which uses a treadmill, video camera and computer to analyse the way in which a runner's feet connect with the ground.

It matters because an unusual gait - maybe your ankle rolls in or out - can lead to aches and pains and possbily worse if left uncorrected.

Most of the running shoes available from what you might call sports superstores are gait neutral, in that they do nothing to correct any of the aforementioned abnormalities.

By contrast, specialist stores like Up And Running offer running shoes which offer a range of correction between neutrality and a scale of five, which is the highest level of correction available before its time for a podiatrist to take a look at your feet.

Up And Running's gait analysis service is free of charge to anyone buying running shoes and entails first stepping onto the running machine wearing neutral shoes.

Martin asks me to run at a comfortable pace and he then videos my feet as they connect with the treadmill.

Footage

Once the treadmill stops, he uses the computer to slow down the footage so that he can see exactly what is happening as I run.

He draws a vertical line from the point of impact to my knee to assess whether it is as straight as it should be.

Had it been all skewed, he says that he would have got me to pick between different styles offering different levels of comfort and support until I found something suitable.

As my running style was neutral he eventually suggested a pair of Brooks Defyance running shoes (£75) and said that I should wear them around the house for a few days to ensure that they do the trick.

"We never recommend shoes on the basis of what they cost," he says. "It's always based on whether they are the most suitable."

As for size and support, Dowdall says that a lot comes down to the personal preference of the wearer.

But as a rule of thumb, there should be a gap of around half a thumb nail between the tip of the toe and the end of the shoe because your feet will expand as you start to cover bigger distances.

Having been properly assessed should hopefully mean that I'm more confident as I train towards the BUPA Greater Manchester 10K run, just one of the Manchester World Sport 08 events.

Will they make me any fitter? Well, I'm "neutral" on that one for the time being. But I'll let you know how I get on.

Simon is in training for the Bupa Great Manchester Run - one of the numerous world championship events which form part of Manchester World Sport 08.

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