The scars on their sinewy legs, etched by the dogs' teeth, were still purple-brown, thick and many this week. Richard can jog only about three miles a day. John can take only a slow mile a day, sometimes following up with some time on an exercise bike.
Their limited workouts still may seem more intense than even most dedicated runners might endure, but the brothers are part of a large family of extreme runners ---- 14 siblings who have been running several miles a day since they were 5 or 6 years old.
The owner or owners of the six pit bulls that attacked the brothers Nov. 27 during an afternoon run have not all been identified. Authorities are considering animal-related charges against two people, but the suspected owners' names have not been released.
Most of the Garritsons run almost daily, often 6 to 10 miles a day. Several have broken running records and regularly placed in top spots in running circuits.
The family's extreme and unrelenting drive to run, fostered by the father, Michael Garritson, has earned the family national attention, especially when some of his offspring, still children, were defeating accomplished high school runners.
Richard had hoped to try out for the track team at Cal State San Marcos, where he is studying nursing, he said. But competitive, long-distance running might not be possible for the brothers any longer ---- or at least for a while.
The brothers recounted the pit bull attacks to the North County Times last week.
A straggler
It was maybe 4 p.m. when John, Richard, their sister Maegan and their niece set out on their run that day. The autumn sun was already close to setting.
Just as they sometimes did, they ran along a trail that winds around parched hills through dust and brush near the edge of the San Pasqual Indian Reservation. Few homes were nearby ---- just a dense grove of squat, leafless trees on one side and a field of dry weeds on the other.
One of their younger and slower siblings, Maegan, fell behind.
Soon, Richard noticed several dogs behind them, near Maegan. The animals loped through the dirt and brush and barked in the dimming sunlight.
He realized Maegan was alone and the dogs might see her as easy prey, a straggler.
He let his brother know he was headed back to run with her.
"Stay with them, and just keep on going," Richard told John and the others.
As John ran on, he began to feel a little worried for Richard and Maegan. He was afraid of big dogs. He slowed his pace a little bit so he didn't get too far away. Just in case.
Dogs close in
By the time Richard reached Maegan, three dogs were already close and barking at his little sister. Richard yelled at them to shoo. The dogs slipped behind some tall brush off of the side of the trail, and Richard and Maegan kept going.
Moments later, something tore through the brush and hit Richard like a cannon ball, almost knocking him off of his feet. Pain shot through his leg ---- a muscular dog that looked like a pit bull had clamped down on his flesh.
Five more dogs emerged from the brush.
He screamed at Maegan to run and she sprinted away. Then he just screamed.
Richard just tried not to let the dogs drag him to the ground. Two had hold of him, one on each leg. He pounded on the head of one of the dogs. His fist met thick muscle and solid skull. The dog kept pulling, throwing him off balance.
"Don't fall down," he told himself. "Once you're on the ground ..."
Another dog came up behind him and yanked him backward. He fell.
John turns back
The distant screams and snarls froze John.
Maegan was running away from the dogs, toward him, alone and crying. He felt the urge to run, too. But could he ever forgive himself if Richard was maimed or killed? What kind of brother would he be if he kept running? He'd have to answer to his family, and to Richard's girlfriend.
John looked around for a weapon and picked up the only ones he could find: a thin stick and a baseball-size rock. He turned around and ran fast toward the noise and the blood.
Meanwhile, Richard hoped that whatever he felt ripping inside his legs weren't tendons; he might never be able to run well again if they severed his tendons.
The thought careened through his head as he tried to fight the dogs that were tearing up his legs. The dogs pinned down his arms and the tendons in his legs suddenly seemed trivial.
He was sprawled out, prone, unable to even curl into a ball. A dog tore into his armpit. He thought he was going to die.
Suddenly, a rock flew through the air and struck a dog that was trying to get at Richard's face. The stone bounced off and thudded to the ground.
John came in close with his stick and hit one of the dogs that was on his brother.
Dogs turn to John
Three of the dogs split off from attacking Richard and knocked down John, mauling his legs. The distraction allowed Richard to shove one of the dogs off of him, and the two others on him suddenly began fighting each other.
Richard tried to stand but his legs were useless. His arms and legs were drenched in syrupy blood. He crawled toward his brother to try to help. But Richard felt so weak. The marathon runner couldn't remember the last time he felt so out of breath.
The dogs snapped John's stick, leaving him without a defense against their gnashing teeth.
They didn't notice a man walking toward them until he kicked up some dirt.
The dogs suddenly stopped and cowered when they saw him. The man grabbed one of the dogs and started dragging the animal back toward a house on tribal land.
"Help us," Richard called out. "Please call someone! We can't walk."
The man kept walking.
Richard and John kept pleading and began crying.
The man told them to screw off before he disappeared into the deepening twilight. The dogs still barked, but far away.
Search for help
There was no one else within earshot to call out to for help ---- and their cries were growing weaker ---- so the brothers crawled and walked for a while. The dogs hadn't severed the brothers' tendons, as Richard had initially feared.
Before long, they heard a different sound.
Sharp yips and howls pierced the dusk.
"Richard," John said. "What about coyotes?"
"Oh, crap," Richard said.
The scent of their blood, a lot of it, was in the air. They were exhausted and wounded, and probably would be unable to fend off a pack of scavengers. The thought of surviving a pit bull attack only to be devoured alive by coyotes got the brothers up and running again.
In the meantime, Maegan and their niece had run 4 miles to meet her father and tell him what happened. They rushed to the scene of the attack in a truck, but by the time they got there, John and Richard were already long gone.
They couldn't find the wounded brothers, and it was dark.
Over the course of an hour, Richard and John made it about a mile, they estimated, before collapsing.
Finally, they gave shouting for help another try.
This time, a woman's voice answered from a house just up the hill: "Who's down there?"
John yelled out his father's phone number.
The San Diego County Sheriff's Department received an emergency call about 5:35 p.m. The brothers were airlifted to a local hospital.
Charges pending
County of San Diego Animal Services officers investigated the attack.
A nearby dog owner, who lived on tribal land, surrendered his four young pit bulls and requested that they be euthanized. But the officers couldn't determine whether those dogs did, in fact, take part in the attack, Lt. Daniel DeSousa of the County of San Diego Animal Services said.
And they couldn't identify the man who dragged off one of the dogs right after the attack, he said.
At least one dog owner was cited earlier this month as a result of the investigation into the November attack, DeSousa said.
The case has been passed along to the San Diego County District Attorney's Office.
As for John and Richard, they both said memories of the attack have stuck with them. John said he has intense nightmares and anxiety, and he wants therapy, but he can't afford it ---- they're stuck with tens of thousands of dollars in medical bills and are wondering how to pay it all off. Insurance covers only a portion of the bills, they said, and the helicopter rides alone cost $25,000 for each of them.
They are having difficulty suing the owner of the dogs because law enforcement officials haven't conclusively identified him. And though they said they were still angry about the attack, they said they were thankful to be alive.
They said they won't stop training until they can run at least as far and as fast as they could before.
"No," Richard said. "To be really honest, I want to get better than I was before."
(North County Times - June 10, 2012)
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