To Mini or Not?

I was scheduled to run 4 miles twice mid-week before a long run of 12 this weekend and another short run of 3 or 4 miles. On Wednesday I ran around the neighborhood with 1 minute intervals at race pace with 2 minutes of recovery. In the end, my average mile pace was 9:26/mile which was almost a personal best.

On Thursday I ran on the local trails and attempted to make it easy. My average pace was 9:35/mile which I was pleased with except for the shooting pains up my lower legs that started after 2.5 miles. The short walk back to the car was almost unbearable and my legs throbbed on the way home. I attempted to stretch my legs well and elevate my feet as much as possible. I also iced them and took some ibuprofen and my legs felt better this morning so I was hoping the issue was temporary. As the day wore on, the pain started returning so I'm afraid this is more than just shin splints.

I read somewhere that if your shins hurt when you start running but the pain goes away as you continue to run, then you have shin splints. If the opposite happens, no pain at first but increases as you run further, then it's something more serious. So against my better judgement, I'm going to attempt a run tomorrow to see what happens. Not sure if I'll go out prepared to run the 3-4 miles or the 12...maybe it will depend on how my legs feel in the morning.

The bad news is that there aren't any medical deferrals for the Mini anymore and today was the last day to transfer your registration to another racer. So now if I can't run the Mini, I'm either out the money for registration or I have to find someone willing to pay to run under my name.