I ran 5 miles for the first time in my life today!! WOO HOO!!

It was way more fun than I thought it would be and I'm not in nearly as much pain afterward as I expected.

One concern I do have, however, is the soreness in my knees. Are there knee supporting muscles that I didn't even know I had? Or are these sore knees something to be concerned about? Is there something I may have been doing wrong that I can correct. Obviously I am very new to distance running so I think it is early enough to correct and bad habits before they develop.

Thanks for the help!

Hi Raegan
Congrats on five miles! Let me ask a few more questions to get a better idea of what's going on. Have your knees ever had surgery or previous injuries? How about your ankles, hips, or low back? How old are your shoes? What group are you running in? And in general, what is your age, height, and weight?

Let me know when you get chance.

Hello again! I see that my topic has been moved to the Medical Forum, which I didn't notice existed until now, so I went ahead and read through the recent topics to find a few others on knee pain. Just to clarify, I think the issue I'm feeling is different from the others I've read. Theirs are very specific pains (sharp, stabbing, gravel, behind kneecap, etc) which probably requires some very specific attention. Mine is just an overall soreness that I would describe as encircling the entire front of both knees, very equal on both sides and just a dull stiffness.

On Sunday I chose to stop to talk to the team from Portland Running Co. about my shoes instead of participating in the group stretch. I'm going to call this one a lesson learned and always (ALWAYS) join the group stretch from now on. I'm willing to bet this pain has more to do with my post run behavior than my actual running posture.

Correct me if I'm wrong, though!

Thanks!

Oh it looks like I was posting a follow-on at the same time you were replying! Thanks for the help!

To answer your questions...
I've never had a knee injury or surgery.
Never injured an ankle, hip or lower back.
My shoes are about two years old, but in terms of miles only about 200 miles since I am very new to distance running and only ever used to run 1.5 mi at a time as part of an irregular fitness routine.
I'm in the red group.
I'm 29, 5'7", 140lbs.

Thanks!

Raegan
This could be a simple issue, ie your body responding to stresses you have never endured. With this type of condition, proper warm up, proper training, and proper cool down....accompanied by proper hydration, nutrition, recovery, and home care injury prevention/maintenance (icing and stretching), this could very well work its way out.

On the other hand, there are other factors that may be contributing to this issue...lack of conditioning of the compartments of the lower extremity causing arch collapse, hip stabilizers inadequately performing their tasks, disruption of the sequential patterning of the quadriceps.......all of these take a trained eye to examine. If your knees are swollen, tender to the touch (particularly medial to the tibial tuberosity) have your PT or Chiropractor take a look as these all need additional help.....(they are very treatable )


Keep us in the loop as to your progress, and don't hesitate to stop by the tables after your run and have someone take a look. It's why we are there

Hmmmm, sounds as though there are a lot of things I need to make sure I am doing "properly"! Are there any books you can recommend to new runners to get all that info? Or is it all here and I just haven't explored this site enough?

All of my soreness overall was gone by mid-day Monday and I had a great first run-for-minutes today! I definitely want to jump into this sport the right way with no time lost on improper practices and no bad habits to break down the line. I'm a clean slate - what have you got for me!?!?

Thanks again!
Raegan