Are you pushing yourself harder then you normally do?

YES those are shin splints.

YES do the exercises. And stretches. And everything.

YES ice them afterwards.

YES you should consider taking a couple of days off this week, to let them rest.

YES you will end up broken like me if you don't pay attention to them.

Also consider: are your shoes old? Are they new, and different? (you know better than to do that this close to a race, though.) Are you suddenly doing hills or speed that you didn't used to?

Hey. Zeus. Be careful, ok darlin?

It's gonna sound really, really funny, but try to breathe from as low down in your abdomen as possible. Like, the parts you don't usually think about when you run. Ahem. Staving knows what I mean, hers is colorful and keeps growing.

Yes I am serious. Focus your breath all the way down from your belly to your groin. It's weird, but it works.

AND FOR THE SAKE OF THAT GUY YOU'RE NAMED AFTER DO NOT BREAK ANYTHING!!!!

In addition to Belly Breathing, try inhaling off your other foot. For example, if you usually start your inhale on a left footfall, try starting it on a right footfall. Alternating inhales on the other footfall gives a slightly different bounce to your viscera (innards), changing the repetitive stress on the connective tissue.The little change can give a lot of relief. 

wrt Belly Breathing, I have no clue (nor do I think I really want to) what Staving has that is colorful and keeps growing.

Happy Running,

Okay, I'm going to be the contrarian. I don't think those are shin splints because shin splints don't go away after a couple of miles.  I've had shin splints, and I also get the sore shins in the early miles of a marathon similar to what you describe.  Sometimes it gets so bad that I wonder whether I can continue, but invariably around mile 7 I wake up and realize that the pain went away a couple of miles back and I didn't notice it.

Likewise with side stitches, which go away with training.

You can do a bunch of exercises and both may go away, or you can quit worrying about them both, do nothing, and chances are they will still go away.

In real time, though, my remedy for a side stitch is to run a ways with your hand on top of your head.

Ed

I have heard the hand-on-top-of-the-head thing works too.  I've never tried it though.  It's been a long time since I had a side stitch.