Austin Marathon - 11 days and counting

I went to a booster club meeting last night for my daughter's high school drill team which was held in their dance room. They have mirrors up from floor to ceiling all over the place. As I was walking in to take my seat, I looked down in the mirror at my left shin area and was amazed at how red, swollen and inflamed it was, something I had not noticed in looking down at it normally. Thankfully after the meeting was over I ran into one of the team trainers who knows I am a marathoner. She took one look at it and really scolded me for having run at all on it. She recommended I try some ultrasound and switch to Aleve rather than Advil, so I'm scheduling an ultrasound treatment tomorrow and have started with the Aleve.

Austin Marathon - 12 days and counting

On a pain factor scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being the highest, the left shin was an 11 this morning. My plan now is very simple: I may not run at all between now and the marathon and just let it completely heal up, then take my time (obviously) on the day of the marathon. The last time I did this, when I had a severe groin pull in 2004, I had not run a single step in 6 weeks and finished the Houston Marathon in just under 5 hours by jogging and walking. This time at least I've gotten several 10-20 milers in over the last 4 weeks, so I should be much better off come start time. I appreciate the comments and emails I have been getting from people.

Austin Marathon - 13 days to go

Reality check: ok, so I ran 15 miles yesterday at a good clip and felt really good about it. This morning when I woke up, my left shin felt like it had been hit with a hammer. I looked down and it had a mouth, and it spoke these words to me, "You are nuts if you think you are going to RUN fast for a full marathon in less than 2 weeks. I'll be happy to jog, walk, stroll along with you for the distance, but if you push me any harder than that, I'm quitting." So as I sit here at about 10:30 a.m. on Monday, I'm abandoning the 3:30 goal and will just do the marathon in whatever time it takes me. I did this in 2004 at the Houston Marathon when I had a severe groin pull, and it actually ended up being probably the most fun I ever had in a marathon. I jogged, walked, stopped and talked to people, did everything I would never get a chance to do if I were focused on running a specific time the whole way.

Austin Marathon - 14 days and counting

I ran a pretty solid 15 miles today (1:55:03, overall 7:40 pace, last mile in 7:24) through a pretty good amount of pain in the left shin for the first 8-10 miles. Over the last 5 miles I felt like it finally began to loosen up, and I just put the hammer down on the last mile to test it and ran the last mile the fastest. I have 70 miles to go to get to the number I wanted to be at when I set out on the shin saga on February 1. I still think with the amount of pain I am having that a sub-3:30 in 2 weeks is not likely, but if I can be smart, eat right, get plenty of rest, do my shin stretches consistently between now and then, anything can happen. Today at least showed me that I'll have no problem in finishing the race. As I've said all along, if I can make 3:30 and qualify for my 4th Boston, that's great. If not, I'll enjoy the day and count my blessings over the mere fact that I have my health and I am able to run.

Side note: I am getting such a great response to people signing up to the Running Blog Database. Please link your blog to it by going to http://www.faithfulsoles.com/fsblogregister.htm, or go to the home page of my web site to try it out at http://www.faithfulsoles.com

Austin Marathon - 15 days and counting

Rest day today, probably do 10-15 miles tomorrow afternoon. Shin this morning is feeling significantly better, but still pretty sore.

Side note: I have been reading many blogs and posting comments on them introducing people to my Running Blog Database on Faithful Soles, and so far better than half of them have linked their blogs to it. It is very inspiring to read what everyone has to say. At the pace it's on now, I envision having a few thousand blogs linked to it by the end of the year. If you have not yet visited it, please go to http://www.faithfulsoles.com and you will find the link to it from the home page (you can't miss it, there's an animated blogger making his entries). If you want to link your blog to the database, just click on "Link your running blog" under "Free features" in the lefthand column (takes about 2 minutes).

Also, I am looking for nominations from around the world from our weekly features of "Runner of the Week", and stories for our "Story of the Week". If you have someone you would like to nominate, or have a story you would like to share, please select the links from under "Free Features" in the lefthand column on the home page.

Austin Marathon - 16 days and counting

Still some pain in my shin, but I was encouraged. I did 7.5 miles again today, this time almost 2 minutes faster than yesterday with what felt like the same effort (first mile in 7:50, last mile in 7:39, overall pace for the whole run about 7:40 per mile). 85 miles to go until February 13.

Austin Marathon (aka - The Shin Splint Saga) - 17 days and counting

2 months ago today, I turned 47. I have a tradition I call the "birthday run" where I run 12.1 miles every year on my birthday (born 12-1). I did that run in a respectable 7:30 pace after having completed 200+ miles for November. I finished December with 200+ miles again, and was running as fast as I have in years. I had Austin in my sites to try to qualify for my 4th Boston Marathon, and I needed a sub-3:30 to do so. On December 31, I would have probably told you I was capable of a sub-3:20. On January 1, I woke up with a soreness in my lower left shin (shin splints) and have been fighting it every day since. I ran maybe 100 miles for the month of January. I've been doing this long enough to know that aches and pains are part of the deal. I ran 5 marathons (2 Houstons, 2 Austins and 1 Boston) with a groin pull in 2001 and 2002. So today, I decided to go for broke over the next 13 days prior to a 5 day Austin taper. If I can get in about 100 miles between now and February 13th with at least one 20 miler around February 8th or so, I might still have a shot at the 3:30. Experience and logic tell me it's a longshot at this point, but heart and guts and years and years of running tell me there's a chance. If I see it's just not doable, I'll back off, run, jog, walk, whatever, and complete my 16th marathon regardless. So today I put in 7.5 miles at an easy 8:00 pace, now just 92.5 miles to go until the 13th.