A mole hill or a mountain ?

I haven't blogged in quite awhile. Didn't have much to say and didn't want to admit that I've temporarily thrown in the towel. In the past few weeks I've seen two doctors about my shin pain. The latest advice was not even to walk on a treadmill for another two weeks. I've already skipped two weeks at the gym (and taken up eating in it's place) so I will be set back at least a month now.

Today I plan to re-motivate myself and go to the gym to at least ride a bike. I bought some compression sleeves for my legs to wear when I can begin running again and I also got some compression ice packs. At this point there's nothing left to try. Apparently shin splints can only heal by not overusing your legs and will most likely return as soon as the exercise that caused them is started again.

I'm still keeping the 5K in my sights. I haven't given up yet and somehow I will find a way to do this. I called this post "mole hill or mountain?" because while an injury seems like a blip in the process, I also have to worry about my breathing capabilities. On the last day I ran a few weeks ago I was able to do one mile without stopping. My lungs had worked their way up to it and I had built enough endurance. With one month of no cardio I'm looking at another major setback. Unless I keep with it, my breathing capacity tends to diminish when I don't exert myself.

So even though the mountain looms in front of me and stands between my current state and a 5K in May, I'm ready to face it and do whatever it takes, even if that is starting over.