Did it.

I’m tired. It’s cold. I’m not ready. My legs hurt.

At the beginning of the year, I set some fairly lofty goals for myself. One of them is to complete a marathon. Notice I didn’t say “run” a marathon, because there is no way I am going to run 26.2 miles IN A ROW. My plan is to run a bit and walk a lot. I think that’s wise.

So I’ve been at the gym 3 or 4 times a week, alternating between the elliptical machine and the treadmill. And last week I had a 10K to run.

It seemed like a good idea at the time. Psh, 6.2 miles is nothing, right? Well.

It actually wasn’t bad. I wasn’t as trained as I would have liked to have been since I’ve been dealing with some fairly gnarly shinsplints, but I figured I’d paid my $33, so I might as well just do it and see what happened.

One thing I noticed – I was probably the largest person there. All these gazelles were prancing about in their fancy running tights and brightly-colored tech fabrics and I was just worried about staying warm in my soccer shorts and my two layers of t-shirts. I don’t wear fancy running gear for a few reasons, mainly because it makes me look and feel like a sausage and that’s just not my thing. Freddie says that it doesn’t matter what I look like and I agree that it shouldn’t matter to him or anyone else, but it does matter to me. And if I look uncomfortable, chances are I feel much much worse.

I don’t mind getting all sweaty in cotton. Most runners would expire over their Gatorade at the thought of running in *gasp!* a cotton t-shirt but I actually like it.

Anyway, I positioned myself toward the back of the pack and away we went. THANK JEEBUS the race allowed us to wear headphones, because without music I would have been really bored. I know I will eventually have to learn to run without it but right now, I really really need it. It keeps my head busy and keeps me from going “what the FUCK am I doing?”

Well, I’m running. Sort of. Surprisingly, my legs felt GREAT during this race. After having skipped at least three treadmill sessions due to the terrible shinsplints, I was expecting the legs to put up quite a fight, but now it seems as though the treadmill is the source of my problems. DAMMIT.

So I ran. I ran a bit, noticed that I was going a bit too fast for sustainability, and slowed down a bit. There was a girl in front of me who was doing the same walk/run thing I was doing, so I kept her about 15 yards ahead and ran when she ran and walked when she walked. This is what got me through.

The next day, I headed over to the doctor to address the shinsplints. My running shoes were professionally chosen and fitted, so a shoe change isn’t the answer. The answer, sadly, is no more treadmill. The instability of the treadmill coupled with my janky ankles is a surefire way to keep the shinsplints alive. So, no more of that. Actually, for the next month or so, I’m not supposed to be running or doing anything high-impact AT ALL. This, of course, serves only to make me WANT to run. But I can’t. I am to take the high-powered anti-inflammatory drugs for 10 days, do ice massage at least twice a day, and get on the elliptical or the stationary bike if I want to get sweaty.

Then we’ll see.