I agree completely with lsilverman. As one of the respondents who offered advice about shin splints/stress fractures, I hope you are pursuing all of the avenues to figure out what your problem is and how you can alleviate it now and prevent it in the future. It's nice to have those goals.....but the goals are pointless if they are not entirely realistic. In the case of my '03 hairline fracture at the site of a previous tibial stress fracture, it was diagnosed in February and I got back on the roads in mid-April. Because I had previously signed up for both Eagleman and Muncie (mid-June and mid-July, respectively), I did them --- and had to walk part of the run on both. Normally, I don't walk any part of half-marathons, stand-alone or in 1/2 irons. My runs at Burlington and Chicago olys, in mid-August, were sub-standard. Finally, at Diamondman 1/2iron on Sept. 12, I put in a solid run, followed by one two weeks later at Granite Ledges int. My point with all of this is that it took me THAT long to get back my running legs, and that was with stopping running IMMEDIATELY once I sensed I had a fracture. Unlress your shin splints have improved dramatically in the past ten days or so, take cautious care of your legs and think small until you are feeling really strong and very capable - and you are only seldom (if ever) bothered by shin splints.