Is the pattern that there is no pattern?

Monday, August 10, 2009 - Ran 4.50 miles at De Anza Cove today without any pain. I am getting really confused because I can't figure out any sort of pattern for things to do to avoid shin pain. Granted, I ran 80% of my run today on the grassy part of the boardwalk that follows the coast, but not only did I not have pain today, but I also 1) did not use Salonpas the night before 2) nor did I do any of my PT exercises or stretches and 3) I only used the stick for about 2-3 minutes the night prior when I usually spend 10+ minutes using the stick on my legs. Is the key to shin-splints-free running to run exclusively on soft surfaces (i.e, grass, dirt trails)? Or is inaction the real action to running without pain?

10 Miles!

Saturday, August 8, 2009 - 10 miles at Lake Miramar. This time it took the first 3.5 miles for my shins to get warmed up enough that the burning pain went away. Both my right and left shins hurt...the right one now has 2 knots on it and the left one has one giant one. End result - it took me about 1 hour and 13 minutes to do the first lap/5 miles and just less than 55 minutes to run the second lap.

I went to court today!

I had my first court appearance as an esquire (licensed attorney) this morning. It was a very easy proceeding -- a case management conference -- but I must admit I was a bit nervous beforehand since I only covered criminal matters in court as a law student. When I was interning for the DA's office back then, the first time I appeared in front of Judge S. for a criminal arraignment in the downtown courthouse, he totally drilled me with numerous questions because he thought I sounded really young by my voice...and since Judge S. has heightened aural senses (he is blind) I became concerned about sounding young on top of looking young, and so began my journey into "adult voice," i.e., trying to speak in a lower tone. Boo! Today though, I think things went really smoothly...it didn't seem like anyone could tell this was my first court proceeding as an attorney :) My mentor, Judge L. told me I should contact the court reporter in that department and try and get the transcript...maybe I'll look into it!

Most Boring Run Ever

Wednesday, August 5, 2009 - Ran 4.00 miles around the neighborhood, up through Mesa College, and around and around to get in a full run. My left shin tightened up a bit and I had to stop once to stretch it out. Later that night my left shin started to hurt/throb inside the muscle so I had to ice it.

Hilarious!

Gotta love the google auto-suggest feature when typing in a search query...

In case that's too small to be readable, it says "orly taitz is bats**t insane" when you type in ORLY.

Hmm, becoming somewhat superstitious...

Monday, August 3, 2009 - Ran 4.00 miles at an 11:30 pace without any pain whatsoever! I admittedly slept on Sunday night with a salonpas patch on each shin, right where my shin knots usually form when I run. Also, I stretched for a good 25 minutes and did two sets of pigeon-toe raises (25 reps each set) before running because I was waiting for K to meet me up at De Anza Cove. I'm not sure if any of those things are to credit for my pain-free run, but I'll do it again next time!

Da-da-da-da-da-da, Meet me at the Hotel

Saturday, August 1, 2009 - 8.50 miles starting at Shelter Island, running along Harbor Drive and into downtown. My shins were really painful for the first couple of miles but after a few stop-and-stretch breaks, I did the last 6 miles without any pain. I couldn't run any faster than 11:30/mile...if I did, my shins would start to tighten up again...but that's okay, I'm happy I was able to do an entire 8.50 today! Afterwards, we all had a big fatty breakfast at the Broken Yolk. Dave S. kept singing the Pitbull "Hotel Room" song and it's stuck in all our heads now :P