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.