Austin Marathon - 9 days and counting

On a scale of 1-10 (10 being the highest), the shin pain is down to below 5 now. The swelling is gone and so is the redness. I'm going to remain smart and not run on it at all. I went back to the YMCA last night to try the elliptical trainer again, and I think I might have had better results. I got on a different one that was able to measure heartrate and a bunch of other stuff. I set it to a "hilly" course and started at it. The first 15 minutes or so I was still discouraged, because my heartrate was barely getting above 70 (my normal resting rate is 35-38 bpm). I increased the level of tension and finally got it to where I felt a level of effort without having to push down too hard on the pedals. It took me a good 30+ minutes to get the heartrate up to above 90, then around 45 minutes I finally topped 100, then really pushed it for 15 more minutes with an RPM of about 85-90 and got the heartrate up to maybe 110-115. I ended up staying on for about an hour and 15 minutes total and worked up a pretty good sweat and felt as if I had at least gotten my legs a decent workout. It still doesn't replace the running workout for my upper body, and I feel a bit awkward just sitting there with my arms hanging down or resting on bars, but I guess that's what you do. I had considered a stair stepper where you can also move your arms back and forth on the upper bars, but looking at it made me think it might be too much pressure on the left shin.