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The monkey rolls aren't nearly as much fun at 50 as they were when I was a kid. Had a bad one a couple of years ago.
Met a guy at the park next to my house so I could demo a pitching machine I was selling. He liked it. I was carrying it toward his car when he commented on what I nice day it was. I looked up at the sky and almost immediately stepped off the edge of the sidewalk, rolling my ankle. I started falling forward as I cradled the 35 pound (and tentatively sold for $300) machine in my arms. Cartoon-like, I kept running faster and faster as I *almost* caught my balance. Key here being the "almost."
Was just about at a full sprint when I finally accepted the fact that the machine and I were going down to the sidewalk together. I sacrificed myself for the machine and did my best to set it down with zero forward momentum. This involved planting it as gently on the pavement as humanly possible (while sprinting) and letting the inertia carry the rest of my body into a somersault. My hands were still on the machine as I tapped into my martial arts training and managed to have my entire body land flat at the same time, the sole of my shoes being the exception, striking the cement a split second later with a loud pop.
I found myself staring at the same blue sky that had started this whole nonsense three seconds earlier. I kept waiting for the pain to start and realized the only sensation I had was a warm, wet one on my left hand. I looked curiously to see what was going on and saw a small puddle of blood forming. There was a jagged 1" gash below my thumb where it had caught a sharp edge on the pitching machine as I performed my acrobatics.
I'm pretty sure other than possibly a little blood, that the machine didn't have a mark on it. I got a new scar to add to the collection but didn't suffer any other damage.
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Lee
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