Does the pain ever go away?

Have only been running for 6 months but have been sooooo good at building up pace and time sensibly. Have literally gone by the book and followed excellent schedule and have lived and died by warming up and cooling down. My question is: do seasoned runners suffer from sore muscles however good they get? I always seem to have some sort of leg pain going on - not injury, just soreness. I just want to know if it ever gets better 

Well it's pretty continuous. I follow a plan for half marathon so I now have long run at weekends - 10 miles, and shorter ones in the week with 2 days rest. Also one spinning class and try to incorporate leg strengthening in the gym. I don't feel as if I over-train..... But maybe a week off might help. Thanks for taking the time to respond!

Whenever you push yourself to do more than your muscles are used to, you're going to get some aches. If you settle into a routine with no further increases in pace or mileage, then the aches will probably stop - but I think you'd get bored. It does get better, however.

Self-massage, either with you hands and some baby oil, or a foam roller or "The Stick" or something, can be useful to help with sore muscles.

It all makes sense when someone else gives advice! Sometimes you can't see the wood for the trees can you? All very helpful points thank you. Much appreciated!!!! ordered a foam roller recently so nows maybe a good time to make use of the big blue thing staring at me in the corner

Yeah, it does wear off. Eventually. I remember my first 4 mile run at about 12 mm. I was awake most of the night in pain in my calves.

Now I don't even feel a 10K after work the next day.

Stick with it, it gets a lot easier. 

I've been running for 11 years and I still hurt all the time
the way I figure it is that if I'm not hurting I'm not training hard enough
occasionally I will taper down for a race (i.e. go 4 or 5 days without an intense session) and everything stops hurting and I feel "normal" for a day or two - feels weird... don't like it!

I find the old 'ice bath' helps, although I don't actually take it too literally - I just soak my legs in cold water  for about 10 minutes or just hose them down in the shower.
It also helps to load up with protein straight after your run, milkshakes are perfect (and rather tasty  )

i find you do become more conscious of your body when you exercise routinely. At the beginning, when you're picking up something new, the thing you're most conscious of is probably how sore and tired you are most of the time. Keep at it, and you should gradually feel less sore and tired, although you should still "feel" your muscles have had a workout, you'll just get used to the feeling and as you get fitter you'll probably be less tired.

Thanks everyone you are all really helpful. Okay, so I guess it will always hurt to a certain extent - in a nice way hopefully. I think I have been over training a bit so I'm going back go basics a bit so I don't lose confidence. Definitely won't be giving up though and will make use of all your helpful comments 

As a confirmed cold bath wuss, I did used to find swimming the next day vey helpful on the old leg muscles.

Trouble is, then you buy a bike, enter a tri and it's game over and welcome to the dark side.

Ha ha....... why do we always have to make it worse for ourselves?  Why cant we ever be happy with achieving SOMETHING.  Cant see me doing a tri (hate swimming) but the bike sounds very attractive .......... Dont give me ideas!  Still need to sort my stupid sore muscles out ha ha ...... walking sticks for me I think!