The Tease of Things I Don't Need

Run Like Hell

A news story out of Orlando (sometimes it seems as if it's always Florida, but idiocy recognizes no borders, folks) immediately reminded me of an early issue of Global Frequency and the sport of Parkour – sometimes called Free Running, though don’t call it that to a purist. The sport originated in France when some kids looked at their landscape of buildings as terrain and began scoping out the best way to travel across it, traversing rooftops, along ledges, etc. Participants generally call themselves Tracures and often refer to the sport by the abbreviation PK. While the intelligent ones completely scope out a route in advance, they try to make it seem very natural. The idealized approach is to keep in constant motion and never retreat.

Here’s a more or less official site and here’s a video showing one of the sport’s aficionados that will demonstrate many of the techniques.

It’s a mix of insane recklessness and childhood thrills recaptured and magnified. Just don't tell your parents, employer or insurance company if you take it up. Probably best not to let the cops know, either.