The rest of the week in Germany was great and I managed to get some good hour run training in.  I was hoping to be cracking out some really good sessions and keeping in touch with my speed, but unfortunately I am in too much pain if I try and run really fast.  Being unfit doesn't help as you push even harder to try and run quick.  I think that I am too far gone for anything to help my Achilles now other than surgery and I am not prepared to go down that route, especially with the chance of success not guaranteed.  If I was 25 then probably but not now, its not worth it.  The Orthotics, Physio, Eccentric Calf Rasies etc etc just don't seem to work, although I can handle the pain when running normally in trainers.  So for the time being, that is what I am going to do.  When the time comes to really start putting in the faster sessions, being fitter should help as I will be able to run faster whilst being relaxed, and if I am still in pain, then that will be the end I guess.  Still I am enjoying starting to get fit, although it is really difficult and taking much longer than usual.  That being said it is difficult to say, being here I have no benchmarks and although I now have a Garmin it is unreliable in the forests and trails, one minute I will be running at 4.30 per mile in a steady run (that would be nice!) the next I am at 8 min per mile, so clearly struggling in the trees and thus not really helping with the stats.  Back in the UK it is pancake flat so I can see the runs getting quicker almost daily as I get fit and I know times and distances.  Still that is the fun of being here, it is all knew and most days I find a different trail to run on and it is great in that sense.  There are hills and inclines in every run so again difficult to really know how fit I am getting, sometimes I feel as though I am just about running quicker than walking pace, but then when you see the hill it is not surprising, so for me I am looking forward to getting back and running the Southern Road Relays and seeing where I am at, and seeing some of the guys.  Other than that, not much else been happening, just ticking over really.  I had considered running in a 10k about an hour away on Saturday, but decided against it and was happy I didn't as first place was 34 minutes and the prize money would have been less than my petrol and entry fee (if I had won of-course!) so happy enough and went out for an hour run instead.

Sorry to see Phil leave the site, was interesting to read his blogs.  I hope some of the constant rubbish that people write within the forums is not part of the reason.  I am sure he has thicker skin than that, but sometimes it gets so tedious you do think why bother.  You are spending time and effort to give advice and hopefully the odd bit of inspiration, for some fools to ridicule and personally attack you.  Suppose this happens in all walks of life, but you would think those people who come on here do so for news, advice and are generally interested in running, guess that is not the case sometimes!