The slow return has begun. Until now, I’ve been reluctant to call it an ‘injury’. ‘It’s just a niggle’, I’d say. In the run up to Bournemouth that niggle got progressively worse. It didn’t hurt so much that I couldn’t run, but it hurt enough that I knew I shouldn’t.

Dosed up on paracetamol and ibuprofen, it was a faint twinge for the first 13 miles of the Bournemouth Marathon. I pulled out and resigned to a few weeks off. But I’d had two weeks off before the race, and that hadn’t had the effect that I’d hoped. In the back of my mind I was worried that another two wouldn’t make any difference either.

Two weeks later this was confirmed. I was still not running but happy to have a break. I was on my way to an exam for a further PT qualification when I saw the bus I needed to get me there on time go past. I sprinted the 400m to the bus stop to catch it, but for the rest of the day my leg throbbed.

My leg stopped hurting, and I carried on not running.  I’ve busied myself with other things. My swimming has improved and I’ve got a lot stronger thanks to those trips to the gym.

Eventually it was time to start running again. I was nervous though – nervous that my leg would hurt all over again, nervous that I’d be rubbish and that I wouldn’t enjoy it. I started small – one slow lap of the track running tentatively on the soft surface.

Then a slow two-miles on a rainy afternoon. I’d been sent some HOKAs so I decided to wear these ultra cushioned shoes. It was good to be outside again but I was too anxious that the pain in my leg would return to enjoy it. A couple of days later I ran four laps of the track – still nice and slow, and still there was no pain.

It’s six weeks since Bournemouth. On Saturday I woke up in time to do the Parkrun in Finsbury Park. Phil and I lined up at the back: me nervous about my leg and him just getting back into running after Snowdonia Marathon.

It started, I told myself to go easy then got the usual urge to run past some people to find some space. After the first lap of the two-lap course, I felt good so started to stretch out my legs and started overtaking. By the time we came up the last hill and rounded the duck pond I had that familiar 5k sickness in my stomach and was hoping for it to end soon.

I stopped my watch and looked down at it for the first time all morning. I don’t run many 5Ks so it took a while to register that my time was just 1 second shy of my 5K PB that I set on a flat course nearly two years ago. I was happy with that, but not as happy as I was with being able to run and enjoy running again.

I was sent the HOKA Clifton 2 for free to try out. I ran in the HOKAs for the parkrun and they were very comfy. I know they’re a popular brand with ultra runners and I’ll be trying them out over longer distances as my runs increase over the next few months.