I just did my 13.5 mile run.

The furthest I ever went in all the running I ever did was 17 miles. That was the entire Malvern Hills range followed by the run home afterwards from West Malvern to South Wu. When I got back to work in Leeds the following monday I asked if I could wear comfy trainers, due to the fifty pence blister on my heel. The 'sup said no and I limped around my patients all week in ambulance issue unbroken DM shoes.

Do I think the urge to keep going at all costs is really damaging and not what running is about? It's such a masculine mode of thought - dig in, no pain no gain, even ubiquitous American epithets like 'suck it up!', 'it'll buff out'  - that I think I should be avoiding those inner voices at all cost.

Where do these inner voices come from? Who taught me that it's better not to quit, to beat myself up because any other outcome is failure? Why is a sport like running, so subjective and personal, prone to so many damaging injuries and harmful ambitions? Is it the leakage from professional sports coverage in the modern era, into the ambitions of our class? An insidious concept that equates accomplishment with affluence, and male expressions of power, wealth and 'success' over everything at any cost?

At 11 miles I developed a pain that increased in intensity as I ran , and stopped as soon as I decided to walk, which I did for the last two miles of my long run. Self diagnosis leads me to believe its an overuse injury, and a form of tendonitis - peroneal tendonitis.

Fortunately I can slow down and change my plans. I still intend to run, as long as the pain stays away, but have decided to alter my end goal.

Down with the Patriarchy!