Yesterday afternoon, as I was out walking, I saw a man, probably in his fifties, out for for a run, coming towards me at a pretty good clip. His shoe got caught the edge of a raised portion on the sidewalk and suddenly he started to fall towards me.

But he didn’t simply stumble and crumble to the ground. Adroitly, as if in slow motion, he rolled into the sidewalk on his shoulder and effortless came up again.

I stopped. Are you OK, I asked?

As he was examining his arm and the sidewalk behind him, he turned to me and replied, I have been running in the city for about about 30 years. On average about every three years I experience a fall.

That roll was amazing, I said.

Without missing a beat, he asked? How did I do? What score would you give me?

With a grin, I responded, 10 out of 10.

He gingerly rubbed the golf ball sized lump that had come up on his elbow and as he prepared to start running again, he turned to me and said:

Thanks for the good score!