Brown Monsters and Knee Pain

I'm finally on Spring Break! Did I go to the beach? On a cruise?

Nope. I went to Charleston, Illinois to visit Eastern Illinois University and my sister. Yay! I graduated from here and it's nice to go back. Notice the complete lack of anything surrounding this tiny little town in the middle of no where! Ha!

Since I arrived yesterday, we've gone running twice. Yesterday was a nice 3.6 mile walk/run. We walked to the campus trail, ran the campus trail, and then walked back to her apartment. The campus trail is about 2 miles long. So, yay! After being totally lazy, it was nice to get out and run.

This morning we went for a run around 9:30 and did about 3 miles. It felt great! I still had lung issues, but the shin pain didn't bother me at all. What did bother me during both runs was the Brown Monster. (Code Name: #2)

I haven't had this problem in quite a while. Since I've been running mostly in the afternoon, I haven't felt the urge to "free the Brown Monster" during a run. It used to happen to me all the time around the 2 mile mark. Now it rarely happens. However, the moment I got down here, I can't seem to get rid of it! I had to walk 2 times yesterday and luckily the bathrooms at the football stadium were open or we would have had a problem. This morning though, we had to walk 3 times and cut the run short. Both times the Brown Monster was released in the proper location and not in the bushes, but this is starting to worry me. It could just be a 24- hour problem, but it's still annoying. Any advice?

Also, my sister is experiencing pain in the back of her left knee. I e-mailed my PT friend and am also going to throw this one out to you guys/girls. She is currently training for the Illinois Marathon on May 1st. She was able to get up to about 13 miles on her training plan before her knee really started to bother her. The pain is in the back of her left knee down both the tendons. (The picture is up at the top because I can't get it to move down here.) This pain sometimes moves toward the lower front of her knee. If she rests and ices it, it becomes stiff. It stays stiff for the first 3 miles of a run and then loosens up around mile 4. She said it feels fine after that but hasn't run more than 10 miles since. It bothered her so much today that she stopped when the Brown Monster made me stop. I know she probably needs to see a doctor, but insurance makes that difficult right now. Any advice?