Dull Hamsting Pain

Question
In July 2007 I completed a marathon.  In weeks leading up to the marathon (during my taper) I felt I strained my right quad just above the knee.  I had difficulty running because of this quad over the next couple of days and decided to rest for a week.  Following the weeks rest I was able to undertake my training in the final week lead up to the marathon.  On the day before the marathon I felt a tickle in my right hamstring.  During the marathon this turned to slight discomfort but I was able to finish.
In the weeks after the marathon this hamstring was quite tight but I was able to resume training for a half marathon.  I completed the half marathon but once again felt quite sore in the right hamstring.  I gave my hamstring a couple of weeks rest and then resume training for a 10km race.  I found that I was getting a little bit of pain in the right hamstring when doing my speed work or hill work, the long slower runs seemed to relieve the pain.
I complete the 10km run and found that the pain and tightness in the right hamstring was quite strong.  I rested the hamstring for two weeks (undertaking stretching programs and taking anti inflammatory's) and then commenced light riding for the following two weeks.  As the hamstring was still a little sore I stopped riding and only did 2 easy swims for 3 weeks.
The Hamstring felt probably 90% better and stopped hurting when walking up hills and stairs.  Yesterday I decided to go for a nice easy flat run for about 45 minutes and have now found I am back to where I was around 6 weeks ago, a sore and tight hamstring.  The pain is not sharp and does not get worse with stretching.
Should I be resting the hamstring for a longer period or should I resume running with very short durations?

Answer
Hi Lindsay
Training properly for a marathon takes a great toll on the complete muscular skeleton system and it appears to me your body has not recovered from that effort in july.I recommend you  block out 3 months and get back to just easy running,no intensity workouts such as speed,hill work etc,you no the rest.You have to bite the bullet and get out of training mode and get everything healed up and solid.The down side is a major injury where you won't be able to train at the level you are accustomed to.Most all injuries are directly associated with alignment and tracking.You have to focus your post marathon rehabbing on correcting all these imbalances with a variety of workouts such as biking,swimming,massage,epson salt baths,light weights,etc.etc.This is just part of the price we pay,but has to be done in order to enjoy the many races down the road and life.If you have other questions just get in touch Lindsay.

All the best

John