Wednesday 20 October 2010

Parkour in Olympic Park

This past Sunday I hosted an introductory workshop on Parkour. We met at Olympic Park (South East Seoul) where I showed the attendees most of the basics. We did some precision jumps, a variety of vaults like the monkey vault, lazy vault, turning vault and the like, and also did some wall running. We finished the day with some PK-rolls on some of the grassy slopes in the park. In all, I've been in Korea for nearly four years, but this was the first time to do a proper Parkour session -- I didn't reallise how I've missed it until actually doing it again. How was pleasantly surprised that I could still do the basics with fair ease. I kept myself from doing any crazy stuff. I guess it helped that I'm still quite bruised from a heavy Taekkyeon sparring session I had the previous week. Parkour is such a great workout -- my leg muscles felt sore, in a good way, the days after the jam. The interesting thing about Parkour is that you do not reallise how much you are exercising because it is such a fun playful activity.

Many people (about 16) showed interest to attend the introductory workshop, although only six showed up. I'm guessing that since it was on a Sunday morning most people, when faced between the decision of sleeping in and exercising, chose to stay in bed. If I didn't host the event I would probably have slept in too. Nevertheless, since there was such a big interest I will try and host another workshop -- this time in the afternoon -- before it gets too cold. Unfortunately my Autumn weekends are running out. This coming Sunday I'm going ziplining, sliding with ropes through a forest canopy; the following weekend is Halloween; and the weekend thereafter I'm giving a bride away at a wedding. I also hope to go scuba diving one last time before winter hits us. The last place I'd like to be is in cold water during the winter; I get cold too easily.

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