Week 2, Runs 3 & 4

I'm going to have to shoot straight with you. After two treadmill runs earlier in the week, hitting the road outside for my second two runs of the week was rather painful. As in full of pain. I managed yesterday's three-miler, though at this point it's kind of a blur. Today's four-miler was so painful I am having trouble thinking of how to describe it. Here's what ran through my mind with every step -- it became a nice repetitive rhythm throughout: "Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow," etc. It is my shins. Boy howdy. It's not pretty. I tried to ice them after the run and stretch my calves as much as possible, since my sister tells me shins and calves are linked, but Jesu. The word on the street relative to shin pain seems to be that you have to rest, but that's not really feasible. It's primarily my inner shin, not the muscle that runs alongside the outside of the shin.

Best running song of the day: Mike Doughty's "I Hear the Bells." I never get tired of this song. I am always relieved when it comes on. I always run a little happier for its duration. For a moment, I forgot about my shins and thought only about the bells.

Does anyone have any tips for how to deal with shin pain when it's not really an option to rest for more than a day? The Internet says NOT to run through the pain.

Oops.

(This entry was moved over from a separate running blog.)