Shin pain - race coming up

You want to start doing strength training exercises to correct muscle imbalances.  Google.

Simple exercises you can do at your desk:

• From a sitting position, elevate your foot so that it's straight out from the knee. Imagine you have a piece of chalk between your toes and trace the alphabet. Do this 2 or 3 times a day.
• Keep marbles at your desk. Take your shoes off and practice picking up marbles with your toes.
• Wear boots or heels (your name is Scott, so I'd go with boots unless you're okay with heels).

Disclaimer: I'm not an experienced runner. I'm a newbie who doesn't want to get any overuse injuries.

Shin splints can be caused by a few factors, like increasing mileage too soon, incresing speed, or biomechanical issues.  This is the one most of us overlook too frequently.  A lot of times, the soleus muscle( located below and under the calf) becomes very tight and actually pulls on the muscles surrounding your shin.  This is actually the problem that causes pain in the shin area. I will attach a file so you can see this. You should lay off running until the pain goes away, take some ibuprofen and massage the area below your calf.  You should also check out this website www.tpmassageball.com .  They have helped thousands of people with over use injuries.  You can save your self a lot of aggravation and missed training days if you nip this in the bud now.  The reason I know this is I have been helped immensely by these products.

Bryan