9.
I limped off the playing fields and back to my car with considerable pain in my heel. What made me stop running that day? I’m not sure. I guess it always reaches a point when you just know, the game is up. I had been using pain killers for several weeks which had slowly become less able to mask the pain, until one day it was too much. I felt the shame wash over me, as I contemplated being asked ‘was I injured again?’. I was out for a good 5 months and I didn’t do much to help myself. Take away for dinner and beer for the weekend. Eventually, my friend Lynne prodded me towards some open-water swimming and cycling and slowly the running came back at some point, I’m not sure exactly when.
I’ve lost count of the number of times over the years when I knew the game was up but I couldn’t accept it…
Come back Friday May 21st for an extract from Chapter 10: Mind the Gap. Pre-order the kindle version of the book now on amazon, out June 28th 2021.
Peter Francis 