One giant leap forward, many tiny steps in pain...

This week I ran farther than I ever have before. 17.3 kilometers (giant leap forward). I have also been experiencing something I never have before. Shin splints (many tiny steps in pain).

My training for the Sun Run this past April had proved challenging but painless for me. With the many lurking potential "dangers" of running I'd been warned about, I considered myself one of the lucky ones not to have encountered any of them. Then my first experience with blisters hit. These were not like any blisters I had experienced in my life. These were painful, made running uncomfortable, and rendered me shoeless for the better part of a rainy few weeks. After switching running shoe insoles, investing in new running socks and some heavy applications of Body Glide to my feet I was ready to, well, hit the ground running. Perhaps with a little satisfaction that I had overcome a "real" runner problem.

Enter the pain of shin splints. They started off relatively tolerable, and I figured I maybe just hadn't stretched properly before a run. Steadily, the pain increased along with the distance. I actually had no idea what I was experiencing until I started describing the pain and sensations to people. The overwhleming response was "Oh, that's shin splints - you've never had those?!?". Eager to know how to rid myself of the discomfort, I consulted with my most knowledgeable, dependable source: Google. The more I read, the worse I felt. The most frequent advice was to rest up, stop running, slow down, choose other cross-training activities.... basically everything that would impede my continued training and progression.

I find myself in excrutiating pain at times, walking strangely around the house (especially going up and down the stairs) and spending a lot more time crawling around with my 7.5 month old rather than walking. I have been able to find some relief with elevation, icing, ibuprofen, and stretching thought all these remedies only offer temporary comfort. I have been given some stengthening exercises, stretches, and muscle activation techniques to try before my runs. When I began my 17.3 kilometer (yes, I must include the .3 as it also adds some sense of satisfaction or pride) run this week, I was nearly in tears for the first 25 to 30 minutes or so. My legs were betraying me. I was mentally cursing my shins and how they could do this to me when I was so close to my Half Marathon goal. I realized I could not lift my foot or my toes off the ground on my right side. The muscles simply wouldn't work. I started to panic and think maybe I had done permanent damage to myself. I kept trying and it kept hurting, and resisting. I pushed through and felt my foot flop down with each step as I ran. Eventually, without my noticing, the muscles loosened up and I regained some motion in my foot. I continued to run and finished strong - 17.3 kilometers from home.

My wonderfully supportive husband was to meet me at a predetermined destination to ensure I had travelled my required 16k. I made sure he clocked the distance (using the odometer in the car) from our driveway and took my exact same route. I knew where the 10k distance was, so we guessed where the end point might be and an approximate time and agreed to make cell phone contact when I was nearing one or the other. When I arrived, I felt it likely wasn't far enough so I kept going and we stayed in phone contact as I kept running, until he passed me. He was to stop and pull over when the odometer hit 16k (it was around 14.8 when he passed me). I was excited to be so close to the end and ready to celebrate my victory of travelling so far! Wouldn't you know it, at the exact moment my husband was turning around in a parking lot to get back to where I could see him, I passed him, and my cell phone died. Completely. And this is how my 16k run became 17.3. I really have no concept of distance but at that point decided I had to have hit the mark and had somehow missed my husband. I kept running until I found a place to use a telephone. So, I dutifully stretched outside the Home Depot until my Knight in Shining Pontiac Sunfire came rolling by to rescue me.

The upside? I'm now pretty confident I will be able to complete my 18 kilometer run that is coming up in the next couple weeks.

I continue to struggle with the horror that is shin splints and try to wish them away on a daily basis. Cardio-wise, I could keep running. Mentally, I've got it all there. I was actually ENJOYING running. It was finally starting to be everything I had dreamed and felt it would be for me - until the pain set in. Now, I struggle through the beginning until my legs hit a sort of wall of numbness and I can continue without thinking of how sore I am with every laboured step. That is not how I want to run. I want the enjoyment back. I want to start off feeling great!

I am participating in the 10k event for the Run for Water in Abbotsford this weekend. It will be my second official race and I can only hope my legs allow my mind to take over. My body may try to tell me to give up, but my mind wont let me. My mind is strong... my heart and passion keep it that way.