After Luci was born in 2009, I was lucky to start running again and I really enjoyed it. I wasn't doing triathlon's because I really wanted to limit the time away from my newborn so I focused on running. It is my true "sport" love after all. I raced two half marathons the 2 years after Luci was born and lots of little 5k's and neighborhood runs. I was getting faster (for me) and was having fun spending time listening to music, running along the coast and enjoying my "me" time. During this time, we were dealing with the decline in my husbands spine health so we ventured off to Boulder, CO for him to have surgery. After our weekend visit to beautiful Boulder, we decided to make a big move. We wanted to be able to provide a better, quieter upbringing for our daughter so we bought a house in Erie, CO.
During the time our house was being built, we stayed with my parents in Santa Rosa; Louis continued his recovery from his spinal fusion and I worked. A lot. I didn't exercise and I really lost my fitness - not to mention added about 20 lbs. What bothered me the most, was the loss of fitness. Since then, its been a constant up and down cycle of getting "back at it" and getting sidelined with random aches, pains and injuries.
Fast forward to 2015- I finally was diagnosed with a labral tear in my right hip. I saw two recommended Hip Specialists in Denver and was told by both that they wouldn't recommend surgery due to some early development of arthritis in my hip joint. Both said I am an excellent candidate for a total hip replacement!!! How crazy is that? 42 and needing a new hip. After some research I learned that "The Guy" is local and has an practice in Vail, CO- only 2 hours away. So, we decided to see him. Dr. Marc Phillipon focuses on surgeries of the labrum and all the local surgeons have trained under him so he seemed like the right guy to see.
After meeting with him in October 2015 my surgery was scheduled for April 18th.
Of course that weekend a huge snow storm was forecasted! I think I was more afraid of driving to Vail than the actual procedure itself. I picked up my mom on Friday afternoon and we drove right up the mountain to try to beat the storm. Well, not so lucky. an hour into the drive the snow started falling and the drops were the size of golf balls- huge and thick to the point where I could barely see the end of the car. The roads were closed and after driving for an hour at 5 MPH we finally got off the freeway and stayed at a hotel in Frisco. Poor mom, was getting altitude sickness so we went to bed and tried to rest. We had a small window in the morning where we got back on the road and drove the remaining 24 miles to Vail. The road was in good condition and we made it!!
The rest of the story will continue in another post. Here are some pictures from the road and my little Pickelicious making me a book!
