Man's Best Friend

It's been a bad 24 hours. Last night I bent down to pet my dog while he was sleeping and I apparently spooked him. He must have been mid-rabbit-chase in his dream because he quickly turned and sank his canine teeth deep into the top of my hand. I let out the "F bomb" and tried to pull away, but he clamped down harder. I smashed his belly with my left hand and finally he let go. I swore again and limped to the bathroom. I've never been bitten like this before. I didn't even want to look at my hand (if it was still there) and asked my mom, a nurse, to do it for me. Thankfully the wolf's jaws didn't catch any veins but the pain was pretty brutal. He had sunk his teeth a good 1/4 inch into my flesh. By night, my hand had swelled and my wound looked like someone had jabbed me twice with the business end of a screwdriver. I couldn't use the digits on my right hand for the next 16 hours. I woke up and didn't feel like running (or anything) but eventually slithered a glove on my hand and went Christmas shopping. My stomach hurt all day (related?) and I was going to nix the run. It was freezing outside, the sun was setting and all the roads were covered with ice. I decided to take a nap and nurse my tummy. Just before 4 and just before sunset, I decided to try and shuffle through a pathetic run. I was influenced by a recent article about the great Haile Gebrselassie in which he argues never to miss a run. So today, hell or high water I would shuffle into the setting sun and get in at least 4 miles. I hit some snowy trails and some side streets. The roads were covered in ice and my pace never dipped under 7:00. I got in an easy 6, which is much better than "0". Tomorrow is another day.

PICTURE - A regal Montana T. Dog (the "T" stands for "the") awaiting a "truck ride" in New Hampshire a few yeras back.

"We had to stay in the Sheraton next to Heathrow but when we arrived it was about 11 o'clock in the evening and the middle of the winter. It was impossible to train outside. I started to think about how I could train and then I noticed that my hotel corridor was very long. I put on my shoes and started to run up and down it, and then some of my friends joined me. By that time it was close to midnight and people started to come out of their rooms to look at us. Do you know what happened? They all thought it was an emergency and started following us. One old woman was shouting and running down the corridor in her pyjamas...I always tell young athletes the same thing, 'Wherever you go, whatever you do, what must your top priority be? Running.' In my life I do a lot of things but I never forget my training. Athletics is in my blood. The top priority must always be training, training. This is a discipline. You have to do it."
- Haile Gebrselassie