Sunday, October 5, 2008

TWENTY ONE !!

Twenty One
Many greats in the world of sports are associated with the number.
Peter Forsberg, LaDanian Tomlinson, Sammy Sosa?, just a few who wore the number.
One of the best card games is "21".
Century 21, the real estate giants
You can legally drink at "21".
Now you can add yours truly to someone who has run 21 miles, not total mileage for a week, but 21 miles, with only a stop to refill a water bottle.

I got out of the house around 5:20am. It was 54deg. I was expecting it to be cooler. I am not complaining, since the last 20 miler started in 74deg temp w/ 100% humidity.
The route I chose was the same as the 20 I did. I knew by not cutting any corners, I would be close to the scheduled 21 miles.
Everything was going according to plan, until I got around the 4-5 mile mark, when outta the pitch black came a friggin Rottweiler!

This damn dog came at me, barking big time. I thought for sure he was going to attack. I stopped, screamed at it, and it retreated back to where it came from... so I thought.
Well, I start running again, and it comes back! I freeze scream at it, and it again retreated. I than kinda jogged, looking back to make sure it wasn't going to come back again.
I'd love to know if it was loose, or if the owner was with him. I mean where the hell does a dog like that come from, before 6:00am.
I got passed at one point by 3 cyclists. The lead cyclists asked why I was running this early. My answer was why was he cycling this early! I did yell to him afterwards, that I was training for a marathon.
I had planned earlier in the week, and confirmed last nite, to meet up with Charlie (shoreturtle), around 7:00am, to do an out and back , thru Mercer County Park. I figured to be close to 10 miles, when I met up with him, and I was just over 9, at 9.2 miles.
I can't thank Charlie enough, for meeting up, and helping me get thru 6+ miles today. It was huge, to have that kind of help, during a run of this length. It helps that he has been through this type of training, and ran a few marathons. If you haven't checked out his blog, I would encourage everyone to do so. He does a great job over there. www.shoreturtle.com/blog
I felt good for the majority of the run. The legs started to fade at about the 20 mile mark. I felt tightness in the hamstrings. Still I made it to the end, accomplished 21.17 miles before most where out of bed, and lived to tell the tale of a rottweiler coming at me in the dark!


A little FYI... I didn't run in my new Asics today. I'll break them in on my weekday runs.
and
CONGRATS to the Phillies for making it to the NLCS for the 1st time since 1993!


Here are the stats:
21.17 miles
3:24:28 (2856 calories burned)
Mile/ Time
1 9:44
2 9:41
3 9:49
4 9:46
5 9:47
6 9:32
7 9:45
8 9:49
9 9:50
10 9:29
11 9:19
12 9:50
13 9:36
14 9:34
15 9:26
16 9:16
17 9:25
18 9:27
19 9:54
20 9:59
21 9:36
.17 1:41

9 comments:

ncrunner12 said...

Congrats man, great run. It's key to have someone run with you on those long runs, even if it's just a portion of it.

Your Phills look really good, I hope they destroy the Dodgers for what they did to my Cubbies.

joyRuN said...

CONGRATS! Awesome job on the 21 - that's huge :)

PS - does stop/yell really work with dogs? I run into a few, & always skitter across the street to get away. But if one follows me, I wouldn't know what to do.

Progman2000 said...

Way to go man - curious as to how you are feeling today!

Sounds like you need to invest in a can of dog mace or something. If that Rotty didn't stop you would have been screwed.

FLYERS26 said...

JoyRun, It worked for me.
I have had to do it twice, and it worked both times to that dog.
It also happened to me a few months back, and it worked then too. Hopefully I won't have any more incidents like that. That was scary.

Prog, The legs are sore today!
I am walking around like Fred Sanford.

Laurel said...

"My answer was why was he cycling this early!"

You're a smart-as%! I love it!

And way to go on getting rid of the rabid dog! I would have run home crying!

Great job on the 21 miler! What a huge accomplishment! You're going to kick butt at the Philly Marathon!

BeachRunner said...

Way to face down Cujo and run 21 miles. That is awesome! High five, bro. Congrats to your boys. Can they keep it up and beat L.A. so I dont have to hear more about the mystique of Joe Torre.

P.S. The crazy Prague roadtrip was very good to my beloved Blueshirts, and I agree that the Pens are due for a disappointing hangover season. At least I hope so.

Vava said...

Nice work, and dog owners come in all varieties, some irresponsible beyond redemption. Way to yell back at the pooch! Great report and happy that you survived to tell the tale. My boys are terrified of dogs because two dumbass big ones came right at my older one when he was 2 and barked like mad. He's never been the same since, and his younger brother is scared by association even though nothing bad has ever happened to him. I wish I'd had the chance to give the owner of those dogs a piece of my mind at the time, but they were not around! Typical.

Also, let's not forget the favorite playground basketball game of "21" and add it to your list.

Darrell said...

Nice job with the big 2-1.

Smart move breaking in the new shoes on the mid week runs. You may have regretted using them on the 21.

You are well prepared for Philly.

Unknown said...

You might want to get the biggest raw steak and put some laxatives in it for that friggin dog. Just throw at him on your next run. He will be busy doing you know what when you get back from your run. This way, he won't be barking at ya.