Hi Jen,
Huge congrats on running & so consistently  and increasing as well!! Just thought I would mention that if you are still experiencing a sore upper back/ neck- it may be that you are hunching over, or up, or moving your upper body too much when you run. In that case, you might want to think about doing some core strenghtening exercises- strengthening your deep abs & maybe your lats. I'm saying this, because its what I experienced- the larger muscles were picking up the slack for the weaker ones & hence a lot of inbalance & pain..
I know some pilates exercises are helping me, as well as being conscious of where my shoulder blades are & specific back-lat- notsurewhichmuscle- exercises.

Just a thought... happy running!

atta girl Jen....your core strength will def improve with the 5t's....its only 5-6 mins out of your day ...too easy..and youll have abs in no time,lol..

look out for the doggie do's..he he

trampolining is another really good one,for core strength,also for you pelvic floor muscles its a beauty...

i went from getting picked last in school team sports to representing australia in ultra endurance cycling....

slow and steady wins the race
every step counts, at every pace
hardest part is getting out of bed
and then the rest is just in our head
get out the door, start off slow
after time we warm up, and then its go, go, go!

Jennie it could be lots of thing
main idea is not to try to push trough pain.
try water recovery - changing cold and hot - get 2 backets or some similar thingy, fill 1 with cold water and 1 with the hotest water You can tolerate and keep changing - stick the foot in 1 let it freeze, than stick in the hot and let in unfreeze and warm properly, repeat many times, best to sit on the chair, so there is no weight on it while doing this.

Use this time for doing lots of core exercises on the floor lay on the back, on the tummy and on the side and do lots of leg rises - front, back, sides etc.
than on the back bend the knees and keep moving the legs from 1 side to other like a wippers touch the floor on 1 side than other be carefull with lower back, monitor the feeling. do it with feet on the ground and bend knees, that with fet on the ground and knees close to the body, spread the arms to side to keep the upper back stable.

and work the upper body body and arms as well during nonrunning period.

good morning Jennie,

can You try this experiment - get Your leg up for at least 15 minutes :

either do the head stand or shoulder stand, or simly lay on Your back, press Your bum against the wall and leant the legs against the wall so You are at 90 degrees,
You can read in this position (my favorite),

after 15 minutes You should get some feedback from the leg change of the feeling change of teh pain etc.
depending on what You will experience, we can start guessing what it can be, after You done (You can stay lonegfr than 15 minutes if You wish, lower the legs down very slowly, stay horizontal for few minutes before getting up,
and than lets see what has changed or not.

good luck

Jennie I suggest You seriously consider the NIKE FREE shoes
and start building the walking and running legs and feet in them.

Jennie,
the people telling You about good shoes first are probably people who believe in shoes doing the job instead of feet muscles and so are after overcusioned and oversupportive shoes, which will work as an artificial support, restrict the natural feet function, and make it all very week.
Runners who get used to running in high tech shoes will suffer in the future and will always run slow in those shoes.

3 decades ago no such shoes were available, people were running, walking and playing sports in Dunlop Volleys,
only later come racing flats type shoes (which I used as kid for track and road running).

Since the invention of hight tech running shoes population has runningh injuries, population is about 1 hour slower for the marathon distance etc.

in my view these are the option for running, and I use and alternate all of them :

- barefoot
- Dunlop Volleys
- racing flats ( I use Locco Bandidos)
- Nike Frees
- Aquasocks
- Five fingers rubber socks (but are expensive)
- special shoes for barefoot runners (basicaly just to protect from glass, rocks etc and hot road surface)

I got my Nike Frees from MEL Nike factory for $70-90

I took the insoles from Frees as well as from Volleys out, to minimize the cusioning and to get as close to the ground as posiible

the people telling YOu about proper running shoes, meaning those hight tech control shoes are using the same logic as the nathuropats prescribing YOu pills of minerals and vitamins and recomending red meat for iron and dairy for bones etc.

hi Jen, this is such a wonderful running thread. I hope that your leg is feeling better. I hope you get as much joy and pleasure out of your running as I do-once your leg is sorted you will grow in stength, style speed and endurance-every day. Love ya jen.xx