(Part 2 of 72 in series, My Journey)
If you want to repeat that little jump at an angle to a moss covered wall all day until you can do it with your eyes closed… well my friend, you are not alone. I want to repeat that jump with you. But let’s do 50, just to be sure. And one more for the others who can’t join us. That’ll do us both more good than that big roof gap whilst you hold the camera.
~ Chris ‘Blane’ Rowat from, http://www.parkourgenerations.com/article/call-arms
By now, all of my friends know I practice parkour with Lehigh Valley Parkour. I’m pushing 42, with graying hair and the BMI calculator says 34.9, (which is “obesity.”) So when people first find out, they raise an eyebrow and say, “You’re a brave soul!” or “Huh? The jumping from roof-top to roof-top thing?!”. …my answer is ‘no’ to both of those.
Please do not go to TouYube and look up parkour; Total waste of your time. This is one of those Catch-22 things where the people who believe — quietly, to themselves — that they “get it”… well, those people aren’t posting spectacular videos on TouYube. So you don’t notice their point of view on the whole thing.
I am not saying, “those people over there have it wrong.” I am not saying, “parkour is the One True Path(tm)”. I am not saying, “these ideas are to be found only through parkour.”
I am saying parkour is…
…a journey composed of tiny steps so easy that failure is impossible.
…the grueling, deconstructing, work of self-improvement.
…that well-earned sense of accomplishment.
…the joie-de-vivre that I hadn’t noticed I let slip away.
Playfulness.
Freedom.
…and one more for the others who can’t join us. :*)
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