Parkour

As a kid, Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan and Mark Gonzales were my personal heroes. People who could do amazing feats of balance, climbing, gymnastics and general ass-kicking were the ones I looked up to. I did my fair share of skateboarding, breakdancing and karate, but I think the thing I was always best at was getting on top of buildings in the most unconventional means possible. Whenever I was climbing, it felt as natural as walking.

But I am feeling like an old man lately. I am dealing with a knee condition called bursitis and my knee has swollen to the size of a grapefruit, most likely due to an old knee surgery and years of abuse. Not being able to bend your knee makes even putting on your shoes a task, much less climbing a building.

Anyway, I ran across this clip from a Luc Besson film called District 13. This chase sequence involves a recent athletic movement called Parkour or Free Running, which involves physically negotiating obstacles in the most efficient way possible. If I were about twenty years younger and had the knees that I did then, I would be all about this stuff. Although I get the feeling that these guys will be saying the same thing twenty years from now... ;)