Free Running or Running Free?

Tried a new activity today during the lunch hour - free running. It's pretty much running and jumping off things and twisting and vaulting and any other form of acrobatics you are creative enough to try. Or, as the all-knowing wikipedia describes it, a form of "physical art." It started in London as runners became a little more adventurous, incorporating obstacles into their daily exercises and finding fluid, dynamic ways of getting around them. It's interesting to see the sort of philosophical underpinnings of what could easily be interpreted as a few bored kids messing around. The founder of free running, Sebastien Foucan, talks of the sport as a way of "developing self" and "finding your way".

Well, maybe I'll get there eventually, but today I was pretty clumsy. First was as lesson on how to land and fall properly so as to safely distribute weight. Then I tried a little vaulting and some miscellaneous jumping around. I really enjoyed the creative aspect of it; we had basic tools - stacks of mats, a pommel horse, and the walls of the room - and the rest was up to you. Push off that wall into a side vault off that mat into a roll. It was very freeing in that sense - the only limits were your imagination...and your physical abilities, unfortunately.

I also found an inverse relationship between cautiousness and success. The more careful and worried about failure I was, the more I stumbled or tripped or fell. When I was able to loosen up and shoot for the stars, I often did better than I would have thought. Hmmm, sounds like a convenient metaphor for life, but I'll lower the corniness quotient and let that one go for now...

Anyway, here's a clip from the most recent James Bond movie showing a great example of free running (the jumping and vaulting that is...not so much the shooting). The guy being chased is the sport's founder, Mr. Foucan. Enjoy!