The first time I ever saw a shock collar I was running a road race, an 8 miler I think. A doberman came sprinting and snarling across a field and I was too exhausted to do much in the way of defense, when suddenly he stiffened and slid a ways. Then he got to his feet (or her feet), got his bearings and started after me again. He got jolted quite quickly this time and I could see a guy running toward us across the field. By that time I could see the unusual collar and guessed what was going on. I had never heard of such a device before that. As memory serves, that would have been 1971.
I used to run a course that included a loose and aggressive doberman. My defense was to stop, face the dog, and speak to it until it backed down, so I guess I became the alpha dog momentarily. But it still scared the Smile out of me every time I saw that dog approach.
Is it mere coincidence that so many Parallax fans are also runners? I've seen Ken refer to his running in posts, and I've run more marathons than anyone should. I'm a Nike man myself.
▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔ ·"If you build it, they will come."
I'm actually a "ranner" at this point. Knee issues forced me to quit awhile back. I gave it another whirl last month with mixed results. I think I could do it again, though, with adequate prep to condition my knees.
I had a horrible knee injury in 1980 that ended any serious running, although I would eventually run a couple more road races. I've never run a race over 10 miles, as I was injured often enough training for shorter races. Also, I had the example of a friend who did. He's a pretty smart guy, last I heard he was head of the Space Telescope Institute, but he told me once he had passed the 20 mile marker in a marathon and he could barely do the math to figure out how much of the race was left. Comments like that did not encourage me to run the longer races.
Wasn't Turing a runner? Seems to me I've read that.
Knees are the #1 reason for running pain & injuries, but I managed to persevere through the pain until I found the right shoe/insole & running style that worked for me. That "enlightenment" allowed me to go on with my 140+ marathon career and injure everything else in the "pain chain": hips, ankle, Achilles, shin splints, stress fractures, you name it. Distance running (and cycling) is all about pain management. Recurring old injuries are just a PITA. Moving on to brand new pains is progress!
▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔ ·"If you build it, they will come."
I had a water skiing accident that caused a true dislocation of my knee. I won't describe the details, as it tends t make people sick. My surgeon's main concern was just saving my lower leg. In a nutshell, it did not leave me a good candidate for marathon training. I managed to stay in shape for years by cross training; swimming, kayaking, NordicTrack, and perhaps running every third day. I can't blame my current lousy shape on my knee though, that's just laziness.
Comments
-Phil
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·"If you build it, they will come."
-Phil
Wasn't Turing a runner? Seems to me I've read that.
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·"If you build it, they will come."