ALO - Free Running Frenzy Part I

Hello there readers! Hmm, I’m really going to have to think up a name for you people…ALOists? ALOlites? I don’t know. I’ll figure something out. If you have any suggestions, send ‘em to atleastonceblog@gmail.com and I may pick one of them. Dunno yet, but we’ll find out, won’t we? Anyway, back to the topic at hand.
Heya! This is Alamane, your crazed tour guide in this land of hobbies, bringing you the first installment in this awe-filled romp through the mystical lands of hobbies. This entry is the first real one, so, please, excuse me if I use words of a more…grand nature. In this entry, I will begin a journey through murky past events that led to the creation of the blog that you are reading this very moment.
Freerunning. Ten years ago, this word would have meant very little, if anything, to any random person on the street. Today it is known as an art that has gained an amazingly large following in a few short years. Now, not to be elitist or anything, but I really was one of those people who discovered freerunning before the media got a hold of it and made it popular. But that is beside the point.

Oddly enough, I came to learn of the existence of freerunning via my on-going manga (Japanese comic book) addiction. I had read the description in the mini review of the manga Freerunners, in the now dead Newtype USA Magazine. I will not pretend that I read the review in my first reading of that issue. I admit, I had owned that issue of NTUSA for at least two months before I finally read the article that would eventually change the way I saw everyday objects.
Now, for those of you that, for some reason or another, do not know what freerunning is, I shall provide a short description.
Freerunning, in short is a physical art. Now, to properly describe it, you must delve into its roots. Freerunning is actually derived from Parkour, a method of getting from point A to point B as quickly and efficiently as possible, using obstacles as opportunities. Parkour, more than anything else, is a mindset, a “Nothing stands in my way, I move how I want, where I want, when I want” attitude. Parkour originated in France, and eventually migrated all over the world, with many stunt actors learning the discipline for the highly stylized chase scenes for action movies. Stemming from this, freerunning was originally supposed to be nothing than an anglicized term for Parkour (changing the French work Parkour into a more easily spelled and pronounceable English wording). However, it has evolved into more of a cousin to Parkour. Whereas Parkour is about moving efficiently and quickly, overcoming any obstacles, Freerunning is more of (as stated earlier) an art form. Freerunning is about stylizing your motions, moving in a way that you pertain as fun, imaginative, so on. Freerunning is about expression.

(For full descriptions, see the Reader Reference section below for links.)

My stint with the art of freerunning was to be one of the longer obsessions I had. I discovered the art form in the winter of my junior year of high school. As such, I had to wait until summer to practice anything that I happened to learn. For the winter, it was get into shape, and little to no video games for you, m’boy. All in preparation for one of the bigger let downs of my life. But that’s for another article. For this one, sadly, is over and done. All that is left is your reference materials.

READER REFERENCES
This section of articles is where I will post links to sites, videos, pictures, and other media that I feel is relevant to either the article itself, or the hobby I’m writing about at the time. As I’m typing these first few articles on an eleven year old laptop with a wireless b card (for those of you who care: 300 mhz Intel Pentium II, 160 MB of RAM, and an 11MB PCI D-Link Air card, running Windows 98), I don’t have fast enough Internet speeds to give you decent video links, nor am I in possession of an SD card reader until my laptop returns from HP after getting fixed, the only reference material you are getting this time around is links. But that should be enough to tide you over for now, right?

What is Parkour?
This is American Parkour’s take on what exactly Parkour is. I used it slightly in my description, though most of my description was personal understanding of it.

What is Freerunning?
More American Parkour links, this is their take on free running. Used as my own reference material in writing this article. Enjoy.

American Parkour
This site was the most helpful during my brief-ish stint with free running. The people here are amazing, friendly, helpful, anything you could wish for in a support community. They have forums with anything ranging from workout routines, diet information, recipes, even a forum for traceurs (people who practice Parkour) that are over 30, etc. There are videos, pictures, guides, tips and tricks, and pretty much anything and everything you could think of relating to free running and Parkour. An excellent site with more resources than you could shake a stick at, although why you would shake a stick at anything, I have no idea.


To Be Conitnued...