Ryan runs down weight loss, Pamplona thrill

The question for the svelte Rex Ryan during his visit yesterday to The Post's offices was whether he could imagine if the 1,500-pound bull at the end of his run in Pamplona had seen him when he weighed 348 pounds.

"I would have taken him on!" Ryan said, and laughed. "He would have avoided me instead of the other way around. That's what really would have happened, I think."

The 230-pound Ryan, he of the 36-inch waist, down from 50, thankfully didn't sport the same bull's-eye during his successful running-with-the-bulls fantasy this month in Spain.

"My son wanted to do it, and I'm like, 'Yeah, let's do it,' " he said.

Rex was aware of the dangers - trampling or even death by bull - so I wondered if Jets owner Woody Johnson was OK with his head coach's idea.

"You know what? I never asked," Ryan said. "This is my personal life, and I want to do something with my family, I'm going to do it."

His older boy Payton had an easier time of it.

"He had no problems," Rex said. "He never had to climb the fence like I did."

Rex ran on two separate days, the first day with Payton, the second with wife Michelle.

"The last bull that goes through, they close the doors behind, OK?" Ryan said. "And so, I never knew where he was, you got spread out, and there's so many people and you get jostled around and all that stuff ... I lost where he was. And so, there was like a pileup right before you got into the arena, and that's where the bull actually turns around, he's like the last bull and so, I was like, 'Oh, shoot.' So I'm looking for my kid. Look, I'm panicking for two reasons: one, the bull may run me over, but then I'm wondering where my kid is."

Saturday, however, was not the day to play matador.

"The same thing - pileup and all that stuff - but the bulls don't turn around, they ran right through. Twenty-three people got hurt," Ryan said.

Asked how terrifying it was, he laughed and said: "You're like, 'Whoa, I can get trucked by this bad boy,' you know what I mean?"

Payton beat his father and the bull to the arena.

"The funnest part to watch is what happens after, when everybody's in the arena," Rex said. "'Cause then they bring these young bulls out, and they just blast people. It is hysterical."

The run is approximately a half mile.

"We cheated. We went past dead man's corner [300 meters from the end], so it wasn't that far of a run," he said, and laughed. "But I don't want to take away from [Michelle's] accomplishment."

Rex had been well aware of the dangers.

"I'd rather have memories with my son and all that type of stuff, make memories instead of thinking about it," Ryan said. " I'd rather do it myself."

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