This is my first challenge since surgery, getting back to running at the beginning of 2026, and my first marathon. My foot still grumbles on longer runs, but my phsio assures me this is something I have to learn to manage, rather than anything about to break off. He told me of his other patient, who fell off a crane and learned to walk after a year confined to a bed. Perspective.

What I may have stumbled on is a more universal truth: that there are some problems, many far worse, which won't go away or fully heal. Our choice is whether to try to manage them so that we can pursue what we want to do, whatever that may be. Right now, I choose to run and support Shout.

Shout is the UK's free and confidential 24x7 crisis messaging service for those struggling to cope. Not every problem is visible.

If you can spare anything, thank you. And I hope that more people get to do more of what they want to do.