My guess is that

[Labi1995]

But I was a heel striker in my old running shoes and I know that there were definitely weird things going on in my gait that I suspect contributed to the hip injury that kept me sidelined for most of 2010. I’m definitely forefoot striking now, not heel striking, and being a big guy it required a very slow and deliberate transition. I started out walking very short distances and ramped up the distances very, very slowly. I did it barefoot and the soles of my feet did a very good job limiting the distances for me and giving me feedback.I’ll have to see if I can get my son to take some video of me running barefoot and in my running shoes. I honestly have no idea what I look like running. I just know what it feels like. I’ll shoot some video and post it and you can tell me what you think. Try not to laugh too hard. I’m kind of built more like a linebacker than a runner. I’m living through a similar story, but not as far along as you. After running the Mt Desert Island Marathon (which I highly recommend) last October I had to take six months off due to a “sports hernia,” which I ultimately had surgically repaired. Before this, I was running about maxing out at 50 miles/week with about 5-10 miles in VFF (most of the rest in LunarRacers). Like you, in starting again from scratch, I’ve done almost all my running in VFF, Trail Gloves and Inov-8 XRoad 155. I’ve successfully focused on my gait/cadence and have very slowly — over four months — have worked up to 20 miles a week. But over the last month or so my left achillies, about 1-2 cm above the heel, is sore much of the time. It doesn’t get worse as I run or play tennis (competitively) and doesn’t limit my activity, but I notice it and worry I’m aggravating the injury. An orthopedic surgeon friend of mine examined it (no x-rays) and dismissed the injury as typical achillies tendonicity — take it easy and let him know if it gets much worse. I don’t want to stop training but plan to take the next 7-10 days off to see if that will give it a chance to settle down. While I stretch after runs, I don’t do it as consistently or intently as I should. Perhaps that will help. Thanks for sharing your story and learnings.I’ll add my thoughts here. It’s important to keep in mind that Achilles tendinopathy is not a single condition. Pain higher up in the tendon probably results from a different cause, and would require a different treatment approach than the problem described in this post (eccentric calf exercise is a common treatment approach for pain higher in the tendon).In this case, the problem is being caused by a big hunk of pointy bone that shouldn’t be there. Personally, I don’t think this is a case where being dogmatic about minimalism or barefoot, or even necessarily running form, is all that helpful. The issue is that a pointy hunk of bone is digging into the bursa and tendon when the tendon is angled a certain way relative to the bone. The solutions are either to remove the bone spur, or find a way to avoid the digging. It seems that in this case, a heel lift angles the tendon relative to the bone in a way that alleviates the pain. If that allows you to run, why not go with it? The issue though is the past hip injury, so determining if that might be related to form/footwear could be of interest.My guess is that when the foot dorsiflexes during stance it causes the spur to impinge on the bursa/tendon as the tendon forms a more acute angle with the calcaneus. Similarly, I suspect excessive plantarflexion in a shoe with a stiff heel counter could also be problematic as the heel counter could push the tendon from the backside forward against the spur. This would explain why running the 5K on hills was so painful – hills probably accentuate dorsiflexion on the way up, and plantarflexion on the way down.I am curious if you are still running in Newtons and if so, do they help keep the inflammation of the Hanglund’s bump at bay? I have had the condition for 10 years now. I have had several severe flare ups that have required a couple weeks off to calm things down. Yesterday, during a hilly half marathon, I suddenly had a lot of pain in my heel and ended up limping the last 4 miles to the finish. This is the worst it’s ever been. I think it’s just acute inflammation (as opposed to having ruptured or fractured something) but it’s so painful. Normally after a few steps, I can walk without limping even when it’s flared up. I can’t do that today. I am beyond frustrated and am trying to decide if I should make the switch to a more minimalist type shoe like Newtons, or maybe Pureflow by Brooks. I have always thought that the further down my heel sat in a shoe the better it would be because it would be less friction. Now I am starting to wonder if that position is causing more stress on the area.