Fell 8 times in my 50-miler last week. No injuries, and had fun. But, wonder if I'm doing something wrong. Fell more like 3 or 4 times in previous years at same race.

It's mental. When I fall it's usually on a flat, easy section. When I'm not paying attention. I once fell on an almost perfectly flat, paved bikepath. Then again, after a particularly technical, rocky, rooty trail run, I was jogging back to my car in the parking lot and, yep, down I went.

You must be doing something wrong. I don't fall.

Oh that explains it then.

You KNOW you just jinxed yourself, don't you? Beware the roots at Rocky 

Doesn't matter. It's something supernatural; I don't fall. Trip, yes, all the time. There was a five-mile stretch of Western States (early!) where I swear I kicked every damn rock. The people ahead and behind of me must have gotten quite tired of my exclamations. I beat my toes black and blue; I always wear minimalist shoes.

But I always recover.

You KNOW you just jinxed yourself, don't you? Beware the roots at Rocky 

 

To the OP: while I fortunately don't fall as much as I used to, it still happens.  Of course, it now seems to happen on the widest, least technical part of the trail, probably because I think it's okay to let my mind wander.

This happens to me! I always go down the hardest on the trail when it's a fire-road type section and flat. I just don't pay enough attention to that random root or rock that gets in the way. You'd think I'd learn by now.

Another thing that trips me often are small tree stumps. You know the ones that are left behind on a trail when they cut down a very young tree and that tiny 1 or 2" stump is just poking up just enough? I catch those a lot.