it ends with a bang (and a whimper)

6.30 am. 4 degrees. Footscray Park.
Three girls, two dogs and a trainer.
Into the first third of my final sprint to end the session.
My mind had clearly already completed the sprint. It was on the mat doing the stretching – some minutes ahead of my body which was still gearing up to reach a (quite pathetic) top speed.
Out of nowhere bounds a dog (my dog, as it happens). In a thought process only a canine could understand, she decides to leap on me to remind me that she is still there.
My mindless body detects the dog missile at the last minute and, in a bizarre attempt at self preservation, instinctively tries to avoid a collision by leaping over the dog.
(In slow motion, or so it seemed…) Out and up goes my left leg, out and up goes my right leg. Oh No! One foot slips on the frosty grass. The trajectory changes dramatically from up, up and over to down, down and well, just down. Like a sumersault gone wrong. A graceless thud and a face full of mud.
At least the dog had the good grace to look a bit abashed.