Running shoes

I recommend Ryka for women. Ryka is the only shoe brand that I am aware of that uses a last shaped for women. Most shoe manufacturers build women's shoes on a small man's last. I don't know if Ryka is available in the UK, but it's worth the effort to find them.

Soucony is good for your feet. In Canada the cheap ones are still pretty decent on your feet. I'm not sure about women's though.

Bottom line, the running shoes have to feel "right" on your particular feet. I once bought a pair of Saucony, and they were just "wrong". I gave them away, when they were practically new.

My doctor is a marathon runner. He swears by New Balance. I bought a pair, and they are wonderful.

I've much more experience with walking shoes than running shoes, but fit is way more important than design. Identical size designations give greatly differing fits from one manufacturer to another. Some attempt to correct for pronation; some do not. SAS fits my foot perfectly, Reebock doesn't come close. The combination of fit and comfort in Spira works best for me.

You're going to have to try on a lot of shoes, and with luck, the best won't be the most expensive. £50 should do nicely.

I used to read Runner's World magazine. They had two issues a year with charts of descriptions of the pros and cons of different running shoes. People have different kinds of feet, and any given good shoe brand will have different shoes for those types. Nike Air Max, for example, while good for my particular feet, might be wrong for yours.

It is hard to find a good running shoe store, in that the ones in malls often have clerks that don't know much about feet or running.

I'll look and see if I can find any useful articles on google for
understanding the differences.

http://www.runnersworld.com/article/0,5033,s6-52-167-0-4615,00.html

Here's a good link about types of feet and shoes for them.