sad news confession

Shin Splints.

Super Suck.

So I've avoided posting about running for a while because it's been pretty depressing :o(. Last Saturday I did a 10 mile long run around White Rock lake and it went really well (side note: I visited my first ever port-o-potty that day and I must say, it was surprisingly roomy on the inside. Who knew?). My left shin was twinging a bit at the beginning but a few miles in I stopped noticing it and finished strong. I purposely tried to keep my pace slower and ended up still finishing faster than I needed to (abot 9:20 miles when my long run pace should be around 10:00). I felt great when I finished, came home and took some Advil, iced my legs, and enjoyed a delish brunch at Barbec's with John and Meg. I then proceeded to have a fantastic Labor Day weekend and did not run again until Tuesday night. My shins were a little sore but I decided to head out and do the 3 mile loop around the apartment with John. My shins were screaming when we started but I thought they would stop hurting after a warm up. I was waaaaay wrong. About a mile and a half in it literally felt like my legs were going to break at my shins. And it was both of them, not just my left one. We stopped running and I literally cried in the Tom Thumb parking lot. I haven't run since then, just been doing some Bikram and today I hit up the elliptical in the gym.

So, I'm kind of at a loss. I was really into training for this marathon and doing well at aiming for my time goal. It's only three weeks into training so at this point, I'm not sure how this injury will effect everything. I emailed a friend of mine in Houston who is a physical therapist to see if she can help. I had knee problems back before the half and she fixed me right up so hopefully we can take care of my shins as well. As of right now, I'm just planning on taking about 2 weeks off to let my shins heal and then ease back into the training program, likely starting at the beginning again. I'm hoping I can still run the marathon (I've already paid for it, taken vacation days off from work and told everyone I know they have to coe to Dallas on 12/13 to watch) but I will likely stop focusing on the time so much. I think at this point my goal really should just be that when the time comes I am healthy enough to run it. And like my ever-so-supportive husband keeps reminding me, it's not like this is the last marathon I will ever want to run.

So that's the whole dirty and depressing story. Injuries are so disappointing. As a silver lining, I'm hoping that when I am healthy again and am feeling like I just don't want to run, I will remember back to this feeling of really wishing I could get out there and not being able to. Here's hoping I won't have to spend too much time on the sidelines.