random rambling...thoughts on running part 4

i took a super long break (much longer than intended) from posting my running story. i'm back to mostly finish it up. if you missed the first 3 parts... part 3 part 2 part 1 i ran my first marathon and still thought maybe that would be it for me. even though it never really was on my bucket list, i was happy to check that off and move on. the thing is i couldn't move on. i loved it too much. i loved the people. i loved being outside. i loved it all. so , i kept doing it. the year after that first marathon, i ran a few relays and probably a half marathon or 2. then i started getting a little more serious. i ran ogden st george new york city ogden again and then something really bad happened... about a week after the ogden marathon i still couldn't walk. i was really sore, and my hip hurt. i had another marathon scheduled in a couple of weeks. i started feeling better so i ran utah valley it was one of the dumbest things (next to the wasatch back relay i ran the next weekend) that i have ever done. i was clearly injured but way too stubborn to stop. i got the worst time of my running career. i went to physical therapy...lots of physical therapy. my body usually recovers really well. a few days after a race i am usually totally fine. my physical therapist is an Ironman athlete so he knows all about pushing yourself, goals, training, etc. he never told me not to run the 2nd marathon or the relay so i did. months later he told me he should have been more stern. running those races didn't really make the injury worse, but it drew out the process of finding out the exact problem.  running was out of the question the rest of the summer. i could barely walk. there was no way i could run. for the first time in my life, i had to not do a race i signed up for. i still had hopes of running one more marathon that year, but that didn't happen either. i went to physical therapy 3x/week all summer and saw some improvement. by the end of the summer i hit a plateau and got really worried i might never run again. i have always been a really healthy person (knock on wood or something) so not having 100% health was really hard for me. my body didn't work the way it was supposed to, and it made me mad, sad, depressed, scared, and a lot of other emotions.  i finally went to a sports medicine doctor and started 3 weeks of swimming only (no other cardio and no weights). it was brutal but seemed to work so i had another 3 weeks of swimming only. 6 weeks later with a diagnosis of a labral tear and femoral acetabular impingement (basically a tear in the cartilage and pinching between the hip and leg), i saw a surgeon. by that point, i was ready for surgery. i was sick of not being able to do what i wanted to do. the only exercise i could do was swim, and as much as i like swimming, that doesn't cut it. surgery is scary no matter what, but things really worked out for me to have surgery at the end of the year. it was a huge blessing. at this point i hadn't been able to run for 6 months. i went from being in the best shape of my life to a whole lot less. everyone kept telling me i would run another marathon, but i wasn't totally convinced. the story is almost over i promise.  i'll be back next monday to wrap up. in other completely unrelated subjects, the bachelor is officially back. get excited for tomorrow's first round of blogging the bach.