I was frustrated by the snow and ice when all it did was slow me down. Turns out, winter had much worse intentions. After two days of running on the ice, I noticed an old, familiar pain creeping back into my legs. Returning to me after several years is the mild, persistent discomfort of shin splints.

I have a bit of a history of shin splints, and so I know just how out of hand they can get. That’s why I’ve been taking precautions against them. On lower body lifting days, I focus especially on my calves. I stretch before and after every run (sometimes holding my teammates up). I actually lost some weight this past year with the sole purpose of keeping my shins from falling apart.

And these measures have worked for a couple of years now- so why the sudden return of shin pain? I asked around and found out that several of my teammates, who had been pain-free before last week, had suddenly developed similar pain to my own. Thinking of the snow and ice we had been running across, I again decided to do some research.

It turns out, snow can form an uneven enough surface that it forces one to over- and under-pronate their feet, resulting in the shin pain many of us know all too well. By running through the snow, you force your ankles to contort in all sorts of crazy directions, which places extra stress on muscles up to the knee.

So those of you who still get out on the snow and ice for those long distance runs, be careful. Think about how your foot is falling, and how much extra work it’s doing in these conditions.

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Well, winter has redoubled its efforts to keep us Bethlehemites inside. We got about four inches of snow, followed by a hailstorm. This was all well and good, but then the snow melted and refroze, turning the streets and sidewalks into a giant network of ice rinks.

Training yesterday under these conditions was, to say the least, frustrating. Few people had decided to shovel their sidewalks, so I ended up needing to bunny hop through the snow in order to stay off the ice. Needless to say, I couldn’t get any kind of consistent pace going. The training opportunity was essentially wasted.

I sure did get out of breath, though.

Today’s post will be the first in (hopefully) many posts that will focus on more mundane matters. Sorry, guys- you’ll have to allow me to wax poetic every once in a while.

Anyways, winter has definitely hit Bethlehem, where I go to school. How do I know this? Because I’ve experienced the first sweatsicles of the year.

It was about 7 degrees outside, and in the negatives with windchill. I was on a semi-long run. I was well-equipped enough not to feel it, densely wrapped in layers of nylon and polyester. At one point, though, my teammate called out my name and pointed to his hat. “Icicles” he said.

Sweat had collected on the brim of my trusty hat and, before it could drip, frozen solid. Nice

I managed to get a picture of it, after it had been in the heat of my dorm for a few minutes. Sorry about the low picture quality- hopefully you can see what I’m trying to show.

Hey everyone.

My name is Tim. I’m a runner and a writer, and currently more than halfway through college. This last fact has made me realize just how much growing I have left to do.

I pour my heart and soul into running, and I sweat blood over my writing. Both are skills that can be developed through practice, through grinding out words and miles long past the point of mental and physical and emotional exhaustion.

And here we have the beginnings of a blog- a chance to further develop both skills. This is meant to be a journal for my thoughts related to running, and a conduit through which I can hear yours, too. I mean to try and put into words the philosophies that I’ve been evolving over the years, and track their continued evolution.

I hope that writing (consistently, god willing) here will make me a better writer. I hope that I can gather advice from more experienced runners and improve myself as an athlete.

In other words, I hope that this will be a chance for me to grow.