It has only just begun to warm up... but the weekend warriors are coming out in force.  They are a bit flabby and  ill-prepared for what they are asking of their tired legs and arms and they are strolling in to ortho offices in droves. 

In  three weeks I have seen 3 stress fractures of the hip, 4 stress fractures of the foot and a few around the knee. 

If you ended the summer or fall running 4-5 miles, 3-4 times/week---you can't simply pick up where you left off.  Give your body a chance to regain the bone mass you lost over the winter.  Begin with a light training schedule and slowly increase that training in intensity and duration until you have returned to where you were at the end of last summer. 

Recent research and literature support the contention that you can continue exercising through the recuperative periods of many overuse injuries involving muscles, tendons, etc.  But this assumes that the activity does not significantly worsen your symptoms and that your pain is not weight bearing in nature...ie. the more you walk, the more it hurts.  If that is the case...it is time to see your Orthopedist.