Happy Birthday to Sarah Jessica Parker, the Ninja Master of Running in Heels

Of all the dazzling, magical things about birthday girl Sarah Jessica Parker (turning 51 today!), one of the most impressive skills we never cease to wonder at is how very talented she is at running in heels. While the official how-to sounds easy enough (eyes up, stomach in, and imagine your heels are even higher), anyone who’s ever hustled to catch a train or make it to a morning meeting knows that perfecting SJP’s graceful moves isn’t all that easy. Likely a talent perfected while playing stiletto-queen Carrie Bradshaw, it’s served her well in other roles too. Herewith, in celebration of the woman and the moves, some of her best running-in-heels moments (as Carrie and otherwise):

As any fashion-lover can attest, unexpected downpours aren’t exactly outfit-friendly. Carrie dealt with an Upper East Side deluge during season five by holding a newspaper up for protection and hightailing it toward some shelter.

The end of the series finds Carrie over Paris and realizing her heart is too tied to Manhattan to really say oui to another city. After finding her signature nameplate necklace in her evening bag, she bolts from a swanky museum affair being held for Aleksandr Petrovsky and tries to make it to a party her Parisian fans were throwing for her (spoiler alert: she misses it).

One of her more athletic jogs came when, in order to conceal an affair with Big in season three, she took Aiden’s beloved dog Pete on a walk. He tugged a bit too hard on his leash, broke free to explore Manhattan on his own, and Carrie was forced to really run. Thank goodness she was wearing gym clothes.

The running scene that still makes us feel teary? When Carrie thought Big was standing her up at the altar, and exited her getaway car to savagely hit him with her bouquet.

In Did You Hear About the Morgans?, a walk-and-talk with her estranged husband (played by Hugh Grant) turns messy because of both the rain and, well, a murder. Luckily for both, SJP’s flee response is never encumbered by footwear.

*The very premise of I Don’t Know How She Does It should have clued us all in to the fact that Parker’s character would need to be dashing helter-skelter in office-appropriate attire. Whether late for work or rushing home, she played a working mom who was always making moves. *Even though we were devoted to Carrie and Co., there were still some Sex and the City fashion moments that made us cringe. Click for the most WTF outfits from the entire series.