29 37 30 29 38 18 19 29 28 29 24 35 33 38 28 41 40 47 48 40 50 39 45 42 35 39 48 50 52 48 44 42 39 41 46 48 50 55 55 50 55 55 56 57 56 56 55 58 60 51...if you know..you know.

Started back training in January. Very slow jogging. Have been In various degrees of pain and discomfort for 10 years +...Not just running but daily life. Often crawling up stairs and shuffling down them.

Walking at times very painful too. Periods of sitting would exacerbate the problem further. Diagnosed with haglunds on both heels with associated calcium deposits and tendon scar tissue. Postponed operations 3 times.

An injury that became a living condition. Very frustrating when you know the engine is good. Lots of different treatments...exercise regimes...you name it I've done it. However came to terms with it.

Decided that there are many other people in the world who are worse of than me, and that imo it would be indulgence to have invasive treatment. However, it was a problem that was impacting 24/7.

I've carried on hobbling/jogging and running to keep my mind good for the most part. There have been periods of time where things got better. This gave me hope. But I couldn't recognise a pattern.

I haven't really competed properly since pre 2010....when I have it's been on a small portion of what I used to do and many other factors impacted my condition, namely watching West Ham home and away. It acted as a replacement buzz and it helped.

Things took a turn in 2019...I went to Liverpool and watched the international masters...I had an athlete there I was working with. I now have two from that race. It made me think about where I was and what I missed.

So considering all that I processed from Liverpool, I decided in January to build again. Normally I work on time, but I decided I needed the measure of miles. So I chose know courses so that I could build week on week 2-3 milers early on.

So it became a slow build and things very slowly and gradually got better. My friend @Willmsmith25 who has always been a support in recent times loaned me a deep massage gun. My first thought was...another bloody gimmick. But I gave it a go.

I worked on my Achilles region daily to try and break up the problem...Things started to change....pain changed...some days better...some days worse. I also adopted a quite aggressive routine of mobility exercises for the feet and lower legs.

I started to get better results...there was chinks of light. More freedom in my movement. In some of my runs I could start to move quicker in the second half and not tighten up...pain the next day was lesser.

I sorted shoe issues out and found models that didn't irritate my heels. I found shoes that for me gave me better results....thank you @neilcurran11 !!! I bought and continue to buy this type of shoe.

I put a heel wedge in my shoes to try and take the strain off my heels. Again I got a positive result from this. I started to have runs with less pain and discomfort. I started to look at my daily running from a training perspective.

I could now make a plan with progression and have easier runs and stronger runs. Increases in miles were well measured and considered. There were and still are the odd difficult days. But I monitor and adjust daily.

One year on, I'm in a better place. I haven't competed yet, but I believe I might. I want to race in October and November. Yeah...My goal is big and juicy. But hey why not? I'm in a good position.

I don't usually write at length or blog, but if anyone is out there injured or has a condition that has dragged on for months, try and stay positive. There are solutions. You just have to find them and try them. Never give up!

I'm not the best runner or coach in the world....and never claim to be...I beat a drum and keep beating it. And I accept there are other pathways. It's all learning and no one has all the answers. In the end it's about enjoying...adding positives to life.