Think "Square Peg in a Round Hole"

This dragon is grounded for a while; I have to get my “wings” fixed.


The fix has been a long time coming but the problem has been a lifetime building.  My last pain-free marathon was the 2013 Rock ‘n’ Roll Denver Marathon.  It was far from my best marathon but that was due to dietary mistakes not with what has plagued me to this point.  The first time I had post-race hip pain was after the 2013 Rock ‘n’ Roll Las Vegas Marathon.  It calmed quickly enough and I chalked it up to a fast paced race, after all I’d only missed my PR by 2 minutes.  Over the course of the next 13 months I didn’t have hip pain during races under 13.1 miles or during training runs unless it was speed work that neared my upper limits even though I stepped up my training to achieve personal goals and continuing to maintain a multiyear running streak.  Half marathon and Marathon races always caused me discomfort to some level though, to the point that I started going to physical therapy during the summer and fall of 2014.  After the 2015 Rock ‘n’ Roll Arizona Marathon I moved straight passed “discomfort” to downright Pain.  No amount of stretching, self-massage, or rubbing in of Biofreeze could touch it despite trying for over an hour while I waited, and searched, for my sister.  I found her in the race medical area getting ice treatments and ended up finding out that the massage facility set up there was open to any racer needing help.  They spent at least 20 minutes working on my hips and legs though they were only supposed to spend 10 minutes with each person.  It worked like a charm, they were able to loosen my muscles up well enough to allow me to finish the race festivities, drive 4 hours back home, and continue my running streak the next day. 
The beginning of my being grounded happened on February 15, 2015 during a 15 mile long run my back and hips seized up to the point that I could barely walk.  Once again no amount of stretching, self-massage, icing, or other home treatments helped; In fact it took my physical therapist 5 one hour treatments over the course of 2 weeks just to enable me to walk properly again.  We (my physical therapist, my family and I) worried that I may have injured my back somehow during the run on the 15th but a set of x-rays and an MRI showed that I hadn’t.  I did some slight disk compression in the area of my lower back which we immediately began to treat aggressively but that seemed to be something I had actually had for a long time.  Still, once found we had to treat.  It took 35 days of professional and home physical therapy before I could run again.  Unfortunately it wasn’t the same anymore: my hips didn’t move properly or without pain and my knees began to take punishment as well.  We troubleshot and tested, pushed, pulled, and Grastoned but nothing yielded definitive or lasting results.  The doctor and I thought that I was structurally sound so that left some type soft tissue injury (sports hernia fit but no tell-tale bulging) so he referred me to an orthopedist to troubleshoot further.
The time I spend with the orthopedist was short, 2 visits only, but it lead to a surprising revelation by taking us down the wrong fork in the road (though it seemed the correct one at the time).  The orthopedist requested a new MRI, this time of my hip, during the first visit and then reviewed the findings with me during the second.  Again, no findings of hernia or other soft tissue injury but we did believe we’d found cysts and bone spurs on the top of my femur and the hip joint.  So then, off to see a surgeon armed with a definitive answer and a plan of attack.
Now at the surgeon’s office, he didn’t see the same things the orthopedist and I saw in the MRI or in the MRI report.  He orders x-rays which reveals the big surprise.  I didn’t have “bone spurs” though I did technically have excess bone.  The combination of new x-rays and existing MRI changed my diagnosis from bone spurs and cysts to genetically misshapen femur heads and torn labrums (and possibly benign cysts).  Like Lady Gaga sings, “Baby, I was born this way”.
See the drawing below:  I’ve added pink/purple lines to show basically how my bone is shaped currently vs the illustration's ideal.  

The misshapen femur head has not only torn the labrum but it has caused the labrum to separate from the hip socket.  The femur head and separated/torn labrum has also potentially torn and separated the internal cartilage but the doctor won't see that until he looks at it arthroscopically.  My surgeon will inspect the joint and cartilage, repair the torn labrum and secure it again to the hip bone, and shave the femur to it’s ideal shape.  After recovery the joint will move as intended and I may actually be protected from a worse fate later in life, one that my father has had to suffer recently.
The surgery will be outpatient arthroscopic on my left hip/femur only and will happen on the 19th.  I'll have to be on crutches for 4 weeks after the surgery and then I can walk unassisted but not run for 2 more months after that.  After the third month post-surgery I can begin to run again, easily and carefully at first.  The doctor expects I can begin to run hard at a competitive level again 6 months after surgery, just in time for Boston 2016 as long as I don't have setbacks.  It’s my intent to get the right hip/femur done immediately after the Boston Marathon, assuming I don't have setbacks or urgent need for unexpected surgery.