Well after 3 days free of knee pain and a break from running of over a week - decided to try out a wee joggette this morning to see how the knee might react.
Decided to use Laura''s stepping stone podcast as it keeps me going at a really steady pace and also thought I could duck out at each of the minor changes in pace if it didn't feel manageable. Also stuck fairly close to home in case I needed to limp back.
So - it seems that the drama queen in me really had got carried away as I managed the whole 30 min though was careful not to push it and conciously took slightly short strides in hope of protecting my knees a bit. In fact it was quite an interesting run to focus almost entirely on how the knees were reacting at any given point (change in surface, pace, length of stride beginning and end of run etc) - in fact might do the same thing concentrating on hips next time.
However have decided on the following course of action:
Will definitely be using those hip and knee strengthening exercises.
Will sound out folk locally and speak to doctor to find a sports physio to see if there's anything I can be doing better.
Will think a bit more AGAIN about pushing my self to go too fast. Using the stepping stone podcast made me realise how much faster I'm running compared to even a month ago.
So hoping that some sensible runs over the next few weeks along with strengthening exercises will see me alright.
The Drama 'OMG I might never run again' Queen is back in her box!
Stepping stones pacing
Stepping stones? 
Why I probably won’t run Parkruns 
