Cripple and me

That's right...I was talking to a good friend, deepak and I wondered aloud what the difference was between a cripple(crutched guy) and me was (I have noticed that this sem particularly when I made an attempt at being a regular distance runner, half of the time I am limping around the hostel and even to classes..pathetic!)...The immediate reply given was "You are crazy".
Well, people in my wing think I have gone obssessed with running and (I partially agree to that, as there are more crazier people than me).
I don't run much..4 days of 8 -1 0 km and a long run(16km ususally) on saturday would be a good week for me. Right now, I feel as if my calf muscles have become heavier by 5 times.
Other times when I limp are after the long run and ofcourse after a race.
It is the norm to taper before any race(usually 2 weeks for a marathon and 1 week for a 5k), whether it be 5k or a marathon (ofcourse you should have trained well before that). Recently in the college 5k prep, I started speed training three days before( supposed to be taking rest or run light), the repurcussions of the act followed after the race( which went well).
I had shinsplits, a pain felt on or near the bone running down from the knee to the ankle, making it difficult for me to walk (leave alone run) for around two weeks. Shin splits is a peculiar runner's injury which won't go away by any amount of massaging/ice application/hot water baths, etc...
The physical interpretation of it could be a) You have been running on and off and suddenly decided to run regularly for the same distance as previously.E.g.: You run 5kms 2 or 3 days a week and now you are bent upon doing it daily at the same pace The body simply cannot take the load (unless of course you are a seasoned runner).
b) You have suddenly jumped the gun and are trying to increase the speed all the while maintaining the same distance. E.g. you run 4 days a week 5km each, and decide that I need some speed training..But then you got to cut on the daily runs, as the body takes time to adapt (that's how it improves!) to the stresses caused due to the anaerobic training.

This brings us to conclude that the term "listening to your body" is very relevant to runners, who got to be aware of the warning signals being issued by the body asking you to take some rest. These things start becoming important as you keep increasing your frequency and length of the runs, but by then you would most probably have also gained sufficient experience(see title), to be extremely cautious and not "push the limits".