Pain, no gain

This has been an 'interesting' year for my running. For many years I have been able to say (OK, boast...) that I have never sustained a running injury that stopped me from running. It is about the only thing about my running I could boast about, because I am very much an average (to below average..) runner in terms of speed, endurance, style: and as a Run England run group leader and author of Slow Running, at least in my own head it lent me some measure of credibility. But no more... ...and how it happened is a salutary lesson, in showing that I should have followed my own advice. I went for a short run, last January, with my then 12-year old grandson. I had changed running shoes, from my usual straightforward Adidas style I have worn for decades, to a lighter, flatter, less cushioned shoe because everybody tells me I should try barefoot running and lighter shoes seemed at least a step in that direction. Joshua, being 12, shot off like a rocket. I, being then 63, and a passionate advocate of warming up, taking it easy, not racing, running within your limits, of course launched after him at a speed I have not approached since I too was 12. Also of course, within minutes he flagged and I caught up with him: he gasping for breath, doubled over, but denying that he was winded - oh no, sir, never, no sirree, just stopped for some spurious reason like having spotted a squirrel or to tie his shoelace (we all know those excuses, don't we?). I in my turn had only stopped because he had: no way was I wrecked with my heart pounding and my legs like rubber. So we walked back home - obviousy we both could have run but we simply chose not to, you see, not because we couldn't. And that, friends, is how I picked up my first disabling running injury. Achilles tendonitis - first a painful niggle, that I tried to ignore (in the face of all the advice I have offered to others with that condition..), then a pain, graduating to walking with a stick and a brief spell borrowing a mobility scooter (for for the first few days and people are very nice to the poor old codger..). And now it's September, a full nine months later, and I am just about back to being able to maintain a gentle jog for a few miles, if I am careful. Can anyone recommend a good running book that will remind me not to go too far too fast too soon?

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