In which my legs fall off

Just got back from the run that should be Week 2 day 2 of C25k.  Except it wasn't really.  Only gone and got bloody shin splints now, haven't I?

Arse.

The burn was starting towards the end of my previous run but I just ignored it and carried on.  I didn't even manage to get to halfway through this morning's workout before the burning became too strong to ignore so I had to walk through the last one-and-a-half of the running sections.  Which cocks up my stats righteously.  I was only able to cover a distance of 1.7 miles and both my walk and run paces were slower.

This has chucked a fairly serious spanner in the works because, much to my surprise, I was actually sort of starting to enjoy the running a bit.  Especially after I stopped.  You know, the way that you feel pretty good after a good swim, or decent session at the gym, when everything's jangling and the blood's flowing, that bit I especially enjoyed.  But I'm not entirely sure what to do now.  I think I probably need some decent footwear - I have to admit that I'm running in some pretty battered 8 year old Reeboks that I've pretty much worn every day since I got them, and maybe I should have eased into the whole running malarkey a bit more slowly than I have rather than suddenly putting a whole load of strain on my lower legs and taking them by surprise.

 My knackered trainers

At the moment I'm thinking I should perhaps visit a specialist running shop (I've found there's one in Woking, which isn't too far from me) where they'll have a machine I can run on and they can see what sort of shoe I need, and then when I've forked out an eyewatering amount of money for something hideous looking to shove on my feet I may have to start the C25k all over again, from the beginning, and take it more slowly this time to give my body time to adjust.

But whatever I do, the main piece of advice I've gathered from Dr Google is that I have to stop running until the  pain goes away.  Well, my next run probably wasn't going to be until Sunday but I don't think I'll be able to get to Woking before then as I don't have the car, and TLH and I are off up to London Village on Saturday for the day.  Yes, I know there are specialist running shops in London but to be tested properly on the machines apparently you have to wear your usual running gear and then run on them for 30 minutes, and I'm not wearing all that - including industrial strength sports bra - up to London on a day out!  Hopefully TLH can arrange to work from home one day next week and I'll go then.

I'm genuinely disappointed about this setback - why is nothing ever easy?