Things haven’t been going as well as I’d hoped. A week after I started jogging again, I got some pretty bad pain in my hip, more specifically my hip flexor. It feels like the same pain I had when I tried running for the first time back in March. At first the pain only happened right after a jog. After a few days of gritting my teeth, the leg began hurting all the time, even on my off days. As of now, I can’t walk right and I’m in pain almost all the time.

I think I’m finally realizing that having a job that requires being in excellent physical condition might not be in my future anymore.

I see an Army doc at Hanscom Air Force Base in a week. Hopefully I’ll know more then.

The time has finally come: I have been cleared by my orthopedic doctors at Boston Medical Center to return to full duty! They don’t need to see me anymore and as far as they’re concerned I can return to OCS whenever I am physically qualified to. I can finally start jogging and begin building my strength back up. I celebrated with a 20-minute jog around Fenway.

This doesn’t mean I’ll be back in the Marines anytime soon. I still need to get off disability, be cleared by the Navy, and finally have my waivers approved by the Marines and NOMI (Naval Operational Medicine Institute).

I have been looking forward to this for quite a long time. First step: get off disability.