OzarksWire

I finished the Bass Pro Half Marathon a couple of weeks ago. I’ve only been running for a little over a year, and shin splints hampered me so much early on, I never thought I would be able to continue. Over the years, I’ve started and stopped running several times. Shin splints always stopped me. Over 20 years ago, an army doctor told me that an inherent weakness in my body caused the problem. He said my legs would never feel better and I would always have to live with it. I didn’t figure out the truth until 2010 with the help of the Internet. Shin splints are just a problem of overuse and they will heal with rest.
I started running and walking, mixing in frequent breaks. Eventually, my injuries went away. I can now run 7-8 miles at a time with no problems (with my shins.)  Despite this, the Half-Marathon proved to be a miserable (yet rewarding) experience.  In my training, I discovered that running anything over 10 miles is a struggle.  I expected my adrenalin would carry me through Race-Day.  The 10-mile mark crushed that fantasy.  After 10 miles, you can’t think about anything but the run and your legs impacting the pavement.  Running starts to seem like a stupid idea, and walking makes much more sense.  When they wrapped that tin foil-looking stuff around me at the finish line, I swore I would never do anything like that again.  Now a couple of weeks later, I am thinking about mapping out a marathon training plan.