Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Trying Out Parkour

My estate has plenty of railings, staircases, slopes and corners. I've given them a onceover. The other day, I gingerly hopped and leapt over a couple of them just to test out the speed needed, the strength of the push and calculated distances. Importantly, I don't want to break any nails or bones. So I've circled the estate to do that a couple of times over the last couple of months.

The training I've had are all put to the test. Flexibility, nimble limbs and agility. I lack strength. So I made it up by gradually increasing the intake of carbs these couple of months. I've lost the weight and flab, but I need to build muscles and grow the strength required for parkour.

I conclude that parkour is thoroughly exhausting. I don't do any strange flips until I'm familiar with the landing distance and firmness of the ground. Hey, I'm not running for my life! There isn't a need to take any sort of calculated risks. The concept of parkour is just so appealing. Those videos on youtube are absolutely inspiring. Doing this boosts my confidence when I'm in a strange country, knowing that I can quite effectively run away from a possibly dangerous situation. Who wants to fight when one has the option of running away?!

Tonight, I increased the speed. I wasn't really looking for timing. I just didn't want to fall and simply enjoy the thrill of clearing a hurdle. By now, the railings and ledges are pretty familiar already. I wear the ugly but very utilitarian 5-toed Vibrams to do this. They're perfect.

By and by, no thanks to the security cameras put up around the estate, a security guard stopped me when I landed after a jump and asked if I was okay. "Are you okay? Are you running away from something?" I caught my breath and replied, "Oh no! Exercising." I grabbed another railing and hopped over it. I said, "Bye!"

He called out a final question which floored me into a fit of giggles. "Don't break anything! Are your parents home?" Oh my gawwd, he thought I'm a teenager or something! I simply waved at him and jogged away. Hehehehe. Luckily I'm very scared of heights and haven't started scaling walls or jumping from balconies. Trust me, that is very attractive. What a skill. (Sorry, got distracted by thinking of how Evelyn Salt scaled that external wall of her apartment. Now you see why I like Salt? Nothing to do with the plot.) Now, I don't think it's a wise idea to try hoping up balconies and whatnots. My ground floor neighbors are rather touchy and might just report me to the police even though their balconies are so easily accessible by any other resident in the estate.

15 comments:

tuti said...

hahaha. i youtubed. i know exactly what you're talking about (now).
was wondering how you're going to do the walls, till i read you're wearing the five-toes thingy. and then i wondered if you'll dirty the walls, lmao!!
have fun!

imp said...

tuti: already did the outer walls. I just can't scale the walls up to balconies coz that's going to be iffy. the other walls are easier to leap over. but in the process, kena lots of bruises.

b.muse said...

Haha, I can so imagine u doing that! All the vaulting and jumping! Whee, such fun!

Dawn said...

See - VFF love :)

Dawn said...

PS Check out Levi Meeuwenberg and of course David Belle, if you haven't already.

Pebbles said...

Sounds like fun.. but you are a gutsy lady! Now I need to find some railings and what-nots.. and now to find some courage!! keke!

imp said...

b.muse: i really really NEED to work on the running. that is already tiring before the jumping. GRRRR.

dawn: i like vibrams! and are you kidding? i watched that video of Levi Meeuwenberg over and over again. He's awesome! those Ninja Warrior moves are so tough! David Belle is just so so graceful. *drool*

pebbles: it is fun. but don't try this on your own if you've no prior grounding in gymnastics and strength training. it can be rather dangerous if you fail to heave your weight over a ledge and clear it.

Dawn said...

My bad :)

I like the Belle video when he talks about the philosophy of parkour too.

sinlady said...

am impressed :)

coboypb said...

Wow, I would love to see you in action :)

imp said...

dawn: *happy sigh

sinlady: pole dance is just as tough!

coboypb: hmmm...strangely, i did toy with the idea of video-taping this. heee. we'll see.

Jo said...

yes please.. record it!

I think you've lost weight some more huh? You are stick thin now!! ;)

imp said...

jomel: stick thin? no lah. if you saw the photo of the girls with stripes, none of them is me. :) i'm by no means thin. i got muscles! heee.

tinkertailor said...

cool! i'm kinda into parkour too :)
i was spotted scaling a wall one night by a neighbour. it was an awkward moment for the both of us!

imp said...

tinkertailor: last i heard, some of my neighbors scale the walls and get out of their houses on certain days via a rope ladder and a steel ladder, though not for the reason of practising parkour. something else altogether. hahahahahha. :p i shall attempt to meet them on some balcony.