I’m 62, have been a runner for 35 years, have run 19 marathons with a best of 2:54 (a long time ago) and still love to run. After having successful surgery in 2002 to repair Insertional Achilles Tendonitis on my left foot, I returned to running. In 2009, I developed the same symptoms in my right Achilles. I spent a year trying conservative treatment and was finally convinced I’d just have to keep running in pain until the tendon calcified enough that my podiatrist would be willing to surgically repair it as he did with my right Achilles.
Then a physical therapist I was seeing for help with the sore tendon introduced me to ChiRunning. I thought I knew everything there is to know about running, so I was skeptical. But at that point, I was willing to try anything to get back to running without pain.
That was in October of this year. I watched the DVD and read the book, and started practicing the Chi techniques daily as I ran. It took me about 200 miles of running before it finally “clicked.” I’m now running 35-40 miles a week with NO HEEL PAIN. My Achilles is still sore sometimes when I get up in the morning, or get out of the car after a long trip, or get up from my desk after sitting for a hour or so, and it probably always will be. But my heel doesn’t hurt when I run. In fact, as I’ve told a friend who also suffers from Achilles Tendonitis, the Achilles is largely irrelevant in ChiRunning. I’ve become an evangelist for ChiRunning with the people I work with who run.
Thanks for giving me back my identity as a runner!
