Ouch, good workout on Sunday, I was very sore yesterday and decided to give myself a day to recover. Spent it largely hanging out with friends and being quite unproductive. Today I'm working on the illustrated entries. I plan to go for the usual run and will update the blog tonight. Also, must make a post on the Parkour form... Will report in later.


Later is now and I am very naughty. Birthday party tonight, very, very full. No excersise tonight. PLUS I'm going camping tomorrow until saturday. But this isnt total neglect of activity - I plan to climb me some trees and mountains. See ya saturday.

The Parkour: A Sunday Lesson book is officially under way. Today I went to the class and made a whole heap of notes. It's really pleasant to see that the success of the parkour movement in Melbourne hasn't changed the friendly, casual attitudes of its practitioners. Some of the guys were familiar from my time spent training during the proposal write up stage (about 5 months ago?). There are a bunch of guys who are new, both as trainers and as 'students', and I got lots of great stuff to put in the book.

Also, a good few mistakes were made and limitations discovered. Without sunscreen I burned up completely. As I write this my cheeks are bright red with sunburn. I got back drowsy - always happens to me when I burn - and there's a good chance that in a few days I'll start peeling... next time: Sunscreen. The second major error was not bringing a water-bottle. Towards the end of the lesson (which spanned four hours) I was completely parched and even a little dizzy. Some of the other guys offered me some of their water, which was super nice, and that got me through.

Next, on a researchers scale, I realized that I'm probably too unobtrusive for my own good. Though I have no negative intentions, heck, I'm a FAN of the discipline, I felt a bit weird making notes and taking pictures. That's something I need to get over. I don't want to be a lurker and everybody seems really open and nice. I plan to run an introduction on the parkour association forum letting people know exactly what I'm upto, though I had the chance to tell a few politely curious folk in person. Ethics at the university will demand full disclosure anyway.

On the technical side of things, I need work with my underbars and DISTANCE running. Plus, bad shoes are BAD! My crappy replacement shoes fell apart towards the end of the lesson. Gotta go buy some when I'm not completely broke. All in all,the workout was great. The night run was half hearted as I was still buggered from the lesson and now I'm super sore. But that's good, I expect to feel better tomorrow. That's what sleep is for.

The new obstacle for the day was my shoes. Lost my good parkour shoes at the beach today. The pair I have to replace them has a fraction of the grip and too much sole padding. No good. REALLY need to go shopping. List: Shoes, chalk, tape.

Got up this morning with an idea. The Melbourne Parkour association runs classes on Sundays. I've been to a few, and they've been growing over the last few months. They've also been getting a bit of press. I though this would be a great place to start. A 15-20 page comic story that captures the classes, introduces some of the people and sets the mood for more to come. A stand-alone teaser, if you like. I'm sure the organization guys would be able to do something with it too, that's be great - being able to contribute something back immediately.

I left a message on 'Chippa's' phone (organization president) and then spoke to Sam, (secretary) and they seemed obliging. All systems go. Better dig out the old camera.

Will add more tonight after my run.

Whew, I had a few drinks after work today. When I went for my run three hours later I discovered that alcohol is by no means a performance enhancer. It’s like training with lead weights!

Did some sketching of training environments, as well as local cityscapes this afternoon. Will soon add another page to the visual journal. I don’t usually dedicate this much effort to environments, feels good to push the boundaries.

Never did get that tape and chalk. Hopefully, tomorrow.

Before going for my run this evening I posted the following on my Facebook account: Alex Pavlotski: Um, how many of you folks have heard of PARKOUR, and if you have, from where? Thanks.
I was quite surprised at the volume of response. Here are the reactions.

M: Known about it for a while :-) Nat and some of his mates do it occasionally. I'm too fat :-)

T: Free-running, started by Frenchmen wasn't it? Took off in Europe to make use of the dense urban areas. Crazy cool. Makes an appearance in the latest house too.

A: have, not sure where from though

N: Hi Alex! I have there was a big article about it in the Age a few months ago - http://www.theage.com.au/news/health/spiderman-classes-near-you/2007/12/07/1196812975935.html

L: it's been around for yonks now. even hollywood and hk films have been using it in chase scenes for years

D: I know you broke yourself doing it you clumsy bastard.

D2: You! Plus numerous media references... including Top Gear.

M: I've been fascinated by it for some time now. It just looks so damn cool.There are also a couple of French movies that feature parkour, most notably Banlieue 13.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19CrlgB0ueU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TPIw3cv8Zls

Seems like, even among my narrow circle of friends, word about parkour is spreading. Actually, the Age article sent to me by N served to point out a misconception I’ve been holding onto. Mat Campbell points out: “ ‘(Parkour is) not just urban … It's just one of those misconceptions. It's just as much in nature as it is in the cities."

The landscape is nearly irrelevant. At the same time, I would say it is the overwhelming prevalence of the urban environment and its inherent restrictions that draws people to this subculture. That’s certainly one of the attractions for me. I love appropriating the environment!

Notes on training: The routine is becoming less challenging as my fitness increases. I’m going to have to step up training. I’ll head into the shops to pick up some tape a chalk tomorrow. Time to create boundaries for an extra challenge.

Currently working on more comic notes but need more time. Soon I’ll quit my part-time job and dedicate myself to this full time.

train driver

Tonight, a reminder that the subject of my study is not even close to being a socially accepted activity. Usually my exercises don’t begin until 12:30 am. After the trains stop running and there are no passengers waiting for the next train the station becomes my obstacle course, gym and playground. This evening plans for a late dinner have disrupted my schedule. Parkour is too demanding to practice on a full stomach, thus in order to accommodate late dinner tonight I decided to go out at 8pm.

The jog was fine; the streets were not much busier than at past midnight. When I arrived at the station the difference between my usual time and tonight’s training became an apparent obstacle. A photographer was taking photos of graffiti at the vertical wall ledge I usually climb. To give him a chance to finish up I went over to the two-step garden were I do my wall vault (see last journal entry for diagram of vault). I usually do 10 vaults. At around the third a train pulled up at the station. I just continued my exercise.

On the descent of my fifth vault the drivers exit door opened and the driver called out. “Hey, that’s not the best place for that!” The guy was standing in the door and I stopped, standing on the platform. “What if you fell and hurt yourself,” he asked, then without waiting for a reply continued “Melbourne is full of these places.” He pointed vaguely at the wall behind me, “I have to report this kind of stuff. Just go somewhere else.”

I was ready to start off with something about personal liability and having no other place to train but he started first, without giving me a chance. “Look, I’ve called the cops,” He thumbed towards the station building further down the platform as if to point out the source of his authority “So just fuck off.”

I nodded, deciding that he wasn’t really interested in anything I had to say – especially since he has a schedule to keep and his time at the station was probably running low – and slowly started plodding up the platform. He closed the door and soon the train started pulling out. When he turned the corner I turned too. I finished the vaults, adding five to make up for my unexpected break, and then finished my workout while keeping an eye out for the police.

I don’t blame the guy. Seeing a 100-kilogram man climbing public property and jumping off walls isn’t an everyday event. Though I wish people didn’t jump to conclusions and assume the worst, I can't really blame them for not feeling comfortable enough to actually ask me what I am doing. All of this is just another reminder to be careful.

Actually this is not my first, or even second, such incident. While I was training for my proposal a bystander called the police. I had to explain myself to the law then. Then, on another day a man walking home late from work saw me climbing the ledge on the side of the station building. His reaction was genuinely admirable. He waited for me to get down and then watched me climb again. When I got down the second time (many of my exercises are repeated drills) he stepped in with a question.
“Why are you trying to climb that building?” he asked me. I tried to explain that I was practicing Prakour – a type of improvised urban gymnastics – he seemed unconvinced. I then compared it to rock-climbing, an explanation he hesitantly accepted. “Are you sure?” He asked before walking off. He was concerned and I appreciate his actions.

This whole thing reminds me of old Mary Duglas’ ‘matter out of place’ hypothesis. The idea that things and people that occupy the margins of society or engage in socially unusual practices are nearly innately unsettling to most people. They create uncertainty and question existing boundaries and sadly, it is a near-universal human reaction to assume the worst of those we don’t understand and those who challenge our conception of the world around us.

On a more technical note: Distance running and hand-over-hand ledge climbing is getting easier and I’ve added a twist vault to the usual batch of exercises.
Also, getting pretty comfortable with chin-ups. Will do more comic-notes in the next few days. My current illustration gig has been keeping me busy during the week and an unexpected comic convention took this weekend over.

Doing some refining on the visual notes here, this is a part of my nightly run. Though this strip is about doing parkour on my way to work...

Good run tonight. I was cold out so I had good motivation to get the blood pumping. Did all the basic exercises. Ran a good distance. 

Today, on the way to work I decided to do some notes in comic form. What came out is a diagram of one of my nightly exercises. Windsor train station (where I train) has a wall-garden of two levels built out of stone on the south side of platform 1. Each level is a good bit taller than a meter and the two levels make a two step vault. Every night - weather permitting - I try to climb both steps in a fluid movement. When I reach the top I jump down, landing on the stone lip of the first step then hopping down to the train platform. Then I climb again. The whole thing is repeated ten times and gets me puffed and well worked out. 

My movements are still clumsy, I tried to capture

 this in the drawing sequence. 

Blurg... too full tonight. Will do weight training but can't run. 

Doing a Jam with RGM501 tonight. DJ from Street Fighter. 

Well, it's a rainy night outside. This pretty much puts a complete damper on my evening run. I've learned that wet sneakers offer very little traction and although, from what I understand, the parkour philosophy would suggest that I treat wetness as just another obstacle: I'm not yet confident enough to tackle high climbing with little traction. 

Instead I've stayed inside. I've been looking at my comics for ideas on self-depiction. I'm going to have to settle on a drawing style for the comic work that's to come. In my proposal for this project, as well as my honors thesis, my self-depiction was a cuter, "chibi" version of myself. Accessibility was the key, and the subject matter was abstract. My model was the self-depictions of Scott McCloud, cute, simple and abstract (see above). 

This time the subject matter is far less abstract. Parkour is a physical discipline, it requires a more grounded, realistic style. Not too realistic. I don't want to bite off more than I can chew. Thinking something more along the lines of Craig Thompson's cartoony brush-lines. Gotta sit down and do some sketching. 

Actually, I've recently picked up Christopher Downes' A Diary of a Work in Progress and enjoyed the hell out of it. The thing that made it particularly inspirational was the fact that Chris decided to do a page a day for a book project. Admirable habit that I might have to cultivate. Plus, rendering environments is something else that I'll have to practice. Must find some time to take out my pad and do some observations. 

Getting Started

Went out for a run tonight. Running late to attract less attention. Parkour draws all kinds of suspicion from folks. Especially if you chose a train station as your training environment. The police have come around twice, both times they asked to move on and both times I've had to explain that no property damage is being done. Now I leave at midnight and am usually back by ten to one. 

No privacy tonight though. There was trackwork and the workers took the time to puzzle over the big dude climbing around on the roof of the station. Jumps and climbing only tonight. No fence climbing, too dodgy looking. Tomorrow. Also gotta start taking sketches of the runs and the environments. 

This is it folks, how it all starts. I just handed in my paperwork for the grant. My university will start paying me as of the beginning of next year. Money to write, draw and do Parkour with other runners in Melbourne. I'll have to go talk to some other runners soon. Hope they don't mind me taking notes and sketches.