Sean Falconer
EDITOR’ S LETTER
TUCK AND ROLL
One of my favourite personal running stories is about the day I tripped and took a tumble during an early morning group run in Stellenbosch. That may sound a bit strange, but let me explain why. That morning we were running alongside the Eerste River, and at one point I was next to former Olympian Elana Meyer, so we got chatting. I was right in the middle of telling her a story when my toe caught on a small rock sticking out of the ground, and as I began to fall, I made a splitsecond instinctive decision to not put out my hands to break my fall. You see, I type for a living, and didn’ t want to injure my hands.
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Instead, I tucked and rolled, taking the blow on my shoulder and allowing my momentum to roll my legs over, and so I came right back up on my feet again, still next to Elana, and just carried on running. It also seemed logical to carry on telling my story, because I had gotten to the good part, but the story had to wait, because Elana was just staring at me with big eyes.“ How did you do that? I can’ t believe it, you just rolled back up onto your feet – and you didn’ t even stop talking!” I couldn’ t resist … I winked and replied,“ I get knocked down … but I get up again … you are never going to keep me down.”
WORDS TO LIVE BY
Those are the now famous anthem-like lyrics from the chorus of one of the biggest one-hitwonders of the 90s, Tubthumping by British band Chumbawamba. It’ s a song that regularly features in videos or memes of people falling or tripping, and it was definitely appropriate for my tuck and roll.
So what got me thinking about that story? Well, this month I interviewed one of my dearest running friends, Marianne Nelson following her inspirational, award-winning run at the AfricanX Trailrun presented by Asics( see page 27). This 74-year-old‘ Galloping Granny’ inspires everybody she meets, myself included, thanks to her ever-positive, fun-filled attitude towards running, even though she is quick to admit that at her age she must be extra careful out there.
Nevertheless, she still takes the odd tumble from time to time, and I just happened to be running right behind her in a 15km trail race some months back when she tripped on a tree root. As I watched her falling, my first concerned thought was that she would need medical attention, but before I could even ask if she was OK, she had jumped right back up, dusted off her knees and elbows, and said,“ Right, let’ s go.”
To this day I still can’ t believe it, but read her story and I think you too will see that Marianne is a shining example to us all that life sometimes dishes out some hard falls, but you can get back up, and you can keep moving. Because they are never going to keep you down.
Sean Falconer
Follow me on Twitter: @ sean _ falconer | Follow the mag as well: @ modern _ athlete
WINNERS’ CORNER
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ISSUE 107 JUNE 2018 / www. modernathlete. co. za
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