Haven't posted here in about nine months so here's an update. I finally started running again last January, about six months ago. Have progressed slowly since then, slowed down by some minor injuries. Did not feel ready for the London marathon last April so deferred until April 2012. Am currently running about 20 miles/week at about 7:20-7:30 pace. Looking forward to improving on that, would still like to run sub-3:00 in the 2012 London marathon.
The biggest obstacle is my injury-proneness. My plan is to wear minimalist footwear and to manage minor niggles by shifting from higher-heel (e.g. Nike Free 5.0) to lower-heel (e.g. Mizuno Wave Universe 3) shoes to manage Achilles pain, and switch vice-versa to manage forefoot pain. These are the two areas that have troubled me the most. The high-heeled shoes encourage heel landing, and the low-heeled shoes encourage mid/forefoot landing, so switching around seem like a good strategy. Also, I'll avoid the really minimalist shoes (like the Mizuno) on the tough gravelly trails I often run on. A think a couple of injuries have been due to repeated, pummeling pressure from sharp rocks on thin soles.
I remain committed to minimalist running shoes. Overtraining will lead to injury with any kind of shoe, but I think my injury rate is lower with minimalist than with standard footwear.
