Shouldn't a splint make you feel better?

To start, I did run my 20 minutes this morning, so this isn't a justification of a cop-out on my part. I even ran at a very slightly faster pace than my standard 6.0 mph. However, my shins hurt like the freakin' dickens before, during and after the run. To understand this, we should probably go back to the beginning.

In high school, specifically my sophomore year, I played football and joined the wrestling team. This was probably just a prime example of my poor decision-making skills at the time, but whatever, right? Anyway, those are activities that require running and quite a bit of it. At this point, I started to develop shin splints. If you haven't had them, you're lucky. They hurt quite a bit, and make it difficult to run without looking like Quasimodo. I don't know if this is the primary reason for my miserable failure in sports at the time (it may have something to do with size 15 feet on a 5'8" frame) but it was a contributing factor, for sure. I hated running. I wasn't good at it and it hurt. So I stopped. I joined theatre and debate and went on through high school without missing sports (except martial arts, which I continued to do) at all.

This cessation of physical activity lasted a long time. I didn't really do much extended running in college. I played a few intramural sports, went to the gym maybe 3 times, and then got myself into the SCA. That involved physical activity (fencing, fighting, archery) but not running, and certainly not running more than 50 yards at a time. So the shin splints weren't a factor. I honestly thought they were gone. I thought I'd grown out of them. Then college was over without my having run for any extended period for the duration. I ended up in an apartment with a friend who was big into working out, so we went and did that quite a bit. Mostly lifting, though. Still no extended running. At least, no extended running for days in a row. I would use the recumbent bike quite a bit, but that hasn't ever had the same effect on me.

Honestly, the past 3-4 months is the first time I've done much running for more than a few minutes, more than a few days in a row, and I think it's starting to wear on me. My shins hurt like hell more or less all day after a run. It's tough to walk without limping like a big freak, and they don't heal overnight so the next morning's run is tough, too. I keep thinking that it's just muscle soreness that will go away if I work the appropriate muscles, but that doesn't seem to be happening. Maybe I need to head back to the running store and see if anyone can help me there. Maybe different shoes would be helpful? Any tips would be greatly appreciated.