Parkour

Chad and I tried out a new sport on Saturday - parkour. Here's a video of the kind of stuff we are and will be learning. I showed some of you a video before that was much more extreme stuff - the link above is a much more realistic version of what I want to do. Here's a little description I copied from "How Stuff Works":

Parkour is an international discipline, sport and hobby that is best described as the art of forward motion in spite of obstacles, or to put it simply: the art of movement. Parkour's chief aim is never to move backward but instead to overcome obstacles fluidly, with strength, originality and speed. Recreational running is popular enough to warrant millions of dollars in advertising every year and more in consumer purchases, yet many people still find it boring. But what if taking a morning jog didn't mean training for a marathon or wearing short shorts? What if it meant creative, individual expression through acrobatic moves like leaping from walls and over gaps, ground rolls and precision jumping? Instead of running laps around the community park, you'd navigate through the city, making the urban landscape your personal obstacle course, a playground for strength, freedom, courage and discipline.

The class we went to was the first of a 10-week series. Unfortunately, I'll miss the next two weeks of class, but I'll try to practice what we learned so far so I can rejoin on the fourth class. On Saturday, we first did a warm-up and a fitness test, which were both incredibly tough, then we learned some of the basics of landings, rolls, and quadripedal movement. It was a lot of fun, and I cannot believe how sore I am today!