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Name: Christopher RobinForum Name: Vapor Location: Denver, CO Parkour Since: Early 2003 Current Shoes: 2005 Nike Air Pegasus, Asics Strike Gel, and K-Swiss Ariake Favorite Hotspot: Basically, Colorado and everything within that! More specifically, I’d have to say CU Boulder and Red Rocks rock my world. Other Sporting Interests: I play many sports for fun, but the ones I’m better at include hacky sack (footbag), biking, Frisbee, and sprinting. But parkour is the essence of all of them, I’ve found. Quote:"Argue for your limitations, and sure enough, they’re yours." -Richard Bach "If you always avoid problems, you’ll never be the one who overcame them." -Richard Bach "Either get busy living, or get busy dying." -Morgan Freeman, in The Shawshank Redemption Q: How did you get into parkour? A: I read about it in a magazine late in 2002, looked at two pictures it had, said "psh, oh, I’ve done that" and continued on with my life, four days later forgetting the word "parkour." But a few months later, my dad flipped the television to TLC and we watched a program named Jump London with Sebastien Foucan. I remember finding it immediately interesting/entertaining. Later that night, I searched Google for the term "parkour" and found a site called Urban Freeflow. I scribbled down the names of each basic move they listed, watched a video or looked at pictures to understand what they were doing, and then went to a nearby middle school to try it out. Now, four years later, I feel I’ve finally allowed myself to start progressing, and every day I am so excited for what there is to learn. Q: What is your most memorable parkour moment? A: The very first time I ever met and trained with Ryan Ford. It was at the Aurora School of Gymnastics, and I was just doing some (very basic) vaulting practices, when Ryan approached me and told me how there was an online Yahoo Group for Colorado traceurs. I felt so enthusiastic to know that there would be people I could relate to and with whom I could train. As time went on and Ryan got more and more accomplished and successful, I realized how wonderful an opportunity this was for me; that I was living in Colorado and able to train with an increasingly powerful parkour mentor/leader. To this day, my favorite moments are when I’m receiving/lending/and exchanging ideas about parkour with Ryan, because I feel that every second is the best opportunity to learn something new about parkour, myself, and the world in general. Q: Why do you do parkour? What does it mean to you? A: Parkour is a discipline and sport that I feel best utilizes our weak human bodies. It loosens us up, expands our playing field in many ways. Not only can it be used to cross train for any other sport, but in my opinion, it is the most practical use of time there is. As a species, we have developed incredibly in the fields of communication, education, and technology. But physically (speaking solely about our bodies), we have completely devolved. When it was the age of the Neandertals, the weak died, and the strong carried on. Because there was such a level of environmental danger in those times, everyone strived to become stronger for survival. Now that we’ve lost the need for that kind of survival, we’ve let ourselves go (as a whole, not as individuals). I believe it’s time to physically evolve now; for everyone to see the benefits of a healthy, athletic lifestyle. Through parkour, this goal would be so easy, and FUN! That’s why I practice parkour. I dream of a better, stronger, more developed me every day. Q: If you could go anywhere in the world for parkour, where would it be? A: The middle of the Amazon rainforest, all by myself. No food, no tent. Just me. Talk about the ultimate test of your skills! I might die, I might survive and live long and healthy, I might survive my way back to civilization and be back here again, who knows? All I know is that it would force me to push my body, mind, and spirit to the limit. Q: Is there anything else you would like to share with other traceurs? A: Absolutely. One small fact about myself is that I have never eaten a piece of meat, fish, etc. I have been vegetarian my entire life, and I am perfectly healthy. So if there are any other vegetarians out there, or any meat-eater who has thought about trying a vegetarian diet but been afraid of the consequences, I highly recommend trying it out. If it’s not right for you, that’s fine; but you can’t know if you don’t try. And who knows – maybe you’ll find it makes you a lot happier in the long-run. After all, taste is one of the most superficial evaluations of food. Look beyond the taste of a steak and a hamburger and practice some discipline. It’s fun.
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