I've been running for years and have never really had any problems with my knees until recently. I stopped running for a couple weeks because of a bad cold, and when I started again about a week ago, almost immediately I was having pain in my right knee. I did some Interwebs research and it sounds like what I have is "Runner's Knee."
I was hoping to start training for a marathon in the fall, but this has put a big crimp in those plans. I went to a local running store today at lunch and the sales guy is a running coach at a local university. I admitted it has been a couple years since I've bought new running shoes. He said you should replace them ever 400-500 miles. I know I ran more than 1,000 miles just last year. I did buy a new pair of shoes--Asics GT-2160s ($100), which he said will help with my stability. He had me run on a treadmill so he could evaluate what I needed.
He also explained the importance of strengthening my core and loosening my hips to improve my knee problem. I found the video below to be very helpful and it echos a lot of what the sales guy said. Humping the foam noodle may look a little strange at the gym though. The sales guy also suggested icing the knee a couple times a day. I'm going to give it a shot and hope I can keep on running.
