Remember the phrase, “don’t step on the crack or you’ll break your mother’s back.” Yeah that one from elementary school, well maybe they should say don’t stub your foot on a crack and break your mothers back. Better yet, look where you are going so you don’t fall on your ass.
 

Things most people know about me, I like to run (a few found love), I like to run on trails, I love technology, I like to write, and basically can’t sit still, put me in a cubicle and I go crazy. Things most people don’t know about me, I am clumsy, no very clumsy. It’s common for me to walk into furniture, my hips are often bruised from hitting the corner of counters. After years of masking my clumsiness, I have learned how to fall, bump and stumble with grace, well most of the time.

 

It’s no secret I am in Maryland at my friend Katy’s. She has been busy with work for the past week and after a day in the car yesterday we decided to go for a quick run before the race tomorrow in the hills and down into the town around here apartment. As we ran from her building chatting, slowing picking up speed, I realized it was the first time I had run on sidewalks in a long time. My time is spent on trails, or roads and definitely not in an urban environment. As we headed down the first hill I was looking around at all the historic buildings, taking in the architecture, my footing was the last thing I was focusing on. As we ran down the first hill into town my clumsiness crept up and next thing you know I was falling in slow motion to the pavement. That’s the thing about clumsiness, it creeps up silently then next thing you know you are face down on the ground, looking around hoping no one witnessed such an event. But today someone did and her name is Katy McCabe. Her face was a mixture of worry and disbelief, I had just tripped and fell on a sidewalk, yes a sidewalk crack.
 

As we do in life when we get knocked down, I stood up brushed myself off and we continued on the run.
 
As blood slowly oozed from my knee an unlikely battle wound from our trek out. We returned to Katy’s at the end of the run, I was again reminded for all of my recent accomplishments, all it takes is a little crack in the pavement to knock me back down. But it’s not about falling down in the end it’s about picking yourself back up and moving forward even as scrapes sting and the blood oozes, we continue on as we do in life.