Falling for running

The aftermath of a running fall 3 years ago.

I’m beginning to wonder if I will do something, well, stupid, on every long run. Two  weekends ago  it was running too long, last weekend it was not so much running as falling. On my tooth.
I’d like to say I was zooming down a scree slope or negotiating a slippery descent. But I was on a smooth, tarsealed, flat cycleway by the harbour. There were no vehicles, no bikes and no other runners.
Yet somehow I tripped over nothing, falling down on my left hand, left thigh and right front tooth.
It’s not the first time I’ve fallen running. Usually if I fall it’s on trails but I have also fallen on perfectly flat roads. I’m an equal opportunities faller.

The picture above is from a fall in the Captain Cook's Landing race on Queen Charlotte Track three years ago. In that case I had a reasonable excuse. The trail wasn’t just wet - it was underwater. I’m not sure what tripped me up because whatever it was, was underneath the river that was flowing along the track. Perhaps mindful of not wanting to break a wrist I cleverly broke my fall with my face, as you can see from the photo. Thankfully it was a soft landing (as you can see from the mud specks on my face in the photo) and I kept all my teeth.
Last weekend I avoided any cuts to my face but chipped a small chunk from my right front tooth. My wonderful dentist patched it up yesterday with an enamel resin and now it looks just like a homemade one. (I briefly felt like someone from a reality makeover programme where people always seem to require porcelain veneers, which sound more like an impractical window treatment than something you'd have in your mouth.)
Anyway, that’s the long run report for this week. Stay posted to see if I make it through next week’s 19.3km run unscathed.
(This is where I parked to start my run this week – quite fitting: harbour teeth)