"You got to know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em.  Know when to walk away, know when to Run."

I am in my third season of running (22 months total), and in that short time I have dealt with the following:

Left side runners knee

Left side shin splints

Left knee ITBS (twice)

Left inner ankle/tibial tendon

Left foot injury

Right achilles tendonitis

Right hip

Right inner ankle/tibial tendon

There have been occasions when I was able to ascertain with relative quickness what caused the injury, but most often, there is no "Ah ha" moment. 

Discovering the root cause of running injuries is an exhaustive, frustrating process.  You spend your waking hours thinking about them, and even your sleeping ones!

Sometimes it's the type of shoes you are wearing, a particular route you run on, the way you run, or, you may just need a break from running.  Other times though, it takes forever (if you ever do) to figure out just what the hell is going on!

I have run through some of my injuries, and have taken a seat on the bench for others.  What injuries have you run through, and which one(s) did you finally say screw it, and "Fold 'em?

I've only dealt with a brief bout of ITBS so far.  But after reading many stories about runners who have ignored injuries only to make them much worse, I didn't take any chances.  The first time it flared up, I stopped immediately and walked three miles back home.  The second time it happened, I was on a planned 16 mile run, exactly halfway through at the 8 mile mark it hit me again, the worst part, it was an out and back course.  It took me an hour to run the first 8 miles and 2.5 hours to walk the 8 back to my car.  As you mentioned, the first thing I did was look for the cause.  I thought it might be my shoes, they had over 400 miles on them, so I got new shoes.  Nope, still had some issues, but each time I felt it start to tighten up, I stopped my run right there before the pain started.  Then it hit me that I was only have a problem in my right leg, and I had run all of my miles up to that point (about 1,300) on the left side of the road facing traffic.  Switched to the other side of the road, and started foam rolling, and haven't had a peep out of my IT band in two months.  I think not pushing through the injury, and addressing the root cause is what helped me recover quickly.

I'm not gonna make any money doing this, I might win some awards at smaller races, but even that isn't worth pushing an injury that's going to take me out of the game.  I want to run for the rest of my life, and will do everything I can to make sure that happens.

The only injury I have successfully run through was PF in my left foot. Every other attempt at running through an injury has resulted in getting more injured.  For me at least, the best way to work through it is time off.

ETA - and a big sarcastic THANKS A LOT! for getting that damn song stuck in my head.

i attribute the fact that i've had very few injuries of this type to my general wimpiness. I will rest/not run or whatever i need to do at even the slightest suspicion that something is pulled, torn or otherwise getting inflamed. The only injuries I've really had that were major were the "sudden impact" type, which i received mostly from clumsiness.

This is totally me. lol

Though, really none of my injuries were caused by running, even if they prevented me from running.  I am defective in an exercise-neutral way.

Ran through a nagging piriformis issue.  Just enough pain and discomfort to be very annoying, but not bad enough to stop me.

I completely forgot that I have dealt with piriformis issues, on both sides no less!  Like you though, it was not enough to stop me from running, just a pain in the ass, literally!

It was still there when I injured my knee.  I am hoping the knee-induced 4.5 months off from running will kill the piriformis pain.  I've been stretching and rolling the hell out of it, trying to rehab it along with my knee.

I still have it as well, only on the right side though.  I am told it is a result of tight hamstrings and a level of inflexibility overall.  My trigger point for piriformis pain seem to originate in the hip socket, where about five muscles attach. At times, the pain will also travel down the back of my leg.

Along with stretching, the hip work I have been doing has helped immensely, but it's going to take some time to overcome a lifetime of in my case being a stiff ass for me to put this behind me (see what I did there).  ; )