Hey Brent not trying to play psychologist here but I had an additional thought in evaluating your last post… it seems you really want to get back to running “soon“ or “quickly“… totally understand this and sympathize, and also don’t think there is anything wrong with having a “calendar goal“ to start running again… But I believe we should plan in our minds first that the return to running schedule is certainly not up to our wants and wishes. Nature, healing, the orthopedic surgeon, physical therapy, stress, nutrition, fate, etc. all will play into determining when this can happen. Put any races or “need to be training by to race“ dates on the shelf for now… and this was another reason I decided to have mine done when I did, three weeks ago. Osteoarthritis progressively gets worse, I turn 50 in six months, racing and the best endurance events are certainly paused and many of them for this year will be open only to those that didn’t get to race last year… and most importantly, I chose the Christmas holiday weeks because it would have the least amount of impact on my work, income, and providing for my family. From about April 2 2020 to December 2021 will undoubtedly be the “darkest“ time for endurance events in my lifetime so no better time to try the replacement, recover, and see if I can come back stronger 💪🏽
Again, not trying to tell you what to do, just giving you the best background for my decision and I was struggling with so many of the same things that you are currently… once I made the decision, there is no turning back… Only moving forward and making the most of my present situation. Regardless of my long-term outcome, I have made a promise to myself to not be negative and never dwell if things don’t turn out as I realistically expected!