cause for concern

The marathon is in 10 days - I can't believe it is finally here. All the training has been done and the arrangements have been made. We plan to arrive in C'ville the evening before, do the packet pickup and drive the course. I'm still in denial about the hills. I haven't done much hill training, but that's ok. I did do speed work this time around!

I've had some problems with shin splints pretty much for the last 5 months. They've come and gone. They seem to have gone completely in my left leg. For a while, my calves were super tight. I am concerned about my right lower leg, though. I did a relatively short run yesterday and it really hurt. Really. I feel a little gimpy today and I didn't run. So, I am concerned. I have decided to not run until race day (supplementing with cardio through cycling) unless things dramatically improve. I'm getting a massage tomorrow night to see if the problem is just muscle tightness, but I think it may be something more. I still have all intentions of running next Saturday, but we'll just have to see what happens.

I freaked out about this a little yesterday, but today just realized... it's not about the race, it's about the journey. Yeah, it sounds a little trite to say that, especially since I may not be able to complete the task I set out to do 15 weeks ago, but it's not worth getting upset about for more than a passing moment. Every time I go run, I'm pretty thankful that I can run and something like this is not going to stop me in the long term.