There have been scientific studies about running for prolonged durations (years of running, not durations of specific runs) and degenerative skeletal/joint damage. They didn’t find the association.

Generally it sucks to get old, but not getting old is worse.

I have had an orthopedic surgeon tell me that repeated running on a hard surface at any age, young or old, is a pretty sure recipe for eventual hip replacement though – FWIW. And my B.I.L., who played college ball, is clicking around on 2 knees and 1 ankle that he wasn’t born with – so far. Also from the experience of acquaintances, I’ll tell you one category that gets the severe hip wear: Body-building weight lifters.

Regarding track, I agree that hip injuries don’t seem to be an occupational hazard. I will also add that most coaches take measures to avoid repetitive stress injuries and injuries due to hard impact by mixing up training; track, road, grass…

One big advantage with track; humans literally evolved to walk, jog and run. Our bodies are designed for it, engineered for it.

“My right leg is slightly longer than my left–lots of folks have uneven lengths–by maybe an eighth of an inch.”

I lot of people are told that when in reality their legs are the same length but their hips are not level.

A good PT can fix that. Ended 30 years of pain for one guy I know.

Anecdotes, I know many non-runners who have had hip replacements. Old age, biomechanics. and confirmation bias, I’ve known many runners who have been running well past their 40s, many since their teen age year, with their originally issued hips.

Hernia injuries did more to screw up my running than miles put in; messes up your core, messes up your gait. Bad judgement (a guy thing) took a far greater toll than miles on the road.

Doing route marches in the Army, sort of a tradition from when that’s how armies got from one location to another, not tactical, we were forbidden from walking on the pavement if using a paved road. Only the shoulder. Point was to differentiate the impact by sightly different angles each step as the ground was not even.

But it depends. I had a hard time ,post-Army, distance running when facing traffic. That put me on the shoulder, slanting down slightly from the right. My right leg is slightly longer than my left–lots of folks have uneven lengths–by maybe an eighth of an inch. So that put the long leg on the short–higher–part of the ground. Gave me hip trouble. Changed to a country road with little traffic, ran along the other side, slanted down to favor the right leg, went for years that way.
Trauma will accumulate.

On the other hand, and it’s only one data point, a male friend, a retired Marine who ran for exercise every day into his late forties, ended up with two hip replacements in his fifties.

I really wonder if Kate, or Aggie for that matter, ever ran track when they were young. “Pounding on the track …..” In track and cross country there are stress fractures in lower legs, shin splints, pulled muscles, but hips? Not so much. Injuries from older age transplanted into young athletes IMO.

But geez what a talent. He’ll be setting records for the next few years, just like that pole vaulter.