With the onset of the new year, I found myself thinking about all the things I wanted to achieve - and, like so many of us, I started making a list of these outcomes. Feeling excited and accomplished, I finished up my list and set about my day.

Later that evening, however, I came back to the list - and to be honest, didn't love what I found. Instead of the inspirational manifesto I'd intended to create, what I saw on the paper looked more like a harsh list of faults. Not only that, but how was I supposed to keep track of all these different goals?

Fourteen years ago I was just starting college, and in the best running shape of my life, running 60+ miles/week at sub-7 minute pace - but I had a big issue that soon stopped all running dead in its tracks.  It started with shin pain, familiar to me through my experiences with shin splints in the past - but this time felt different.