Traveling Ninja: Miami Edition (1 of 2)

Part One
Late January is the perfect time to get away (unless you went somewhere warm for the holidays, in which case I have no sympathy for you). It's hard to find motivation sometimes when it's cold and grey outside, sunlight doesn't last quite as long, and the "polar vortex" is trying to ruin our lives. Sorry, winter, but I'm not your biggest fan. Lucky for me, my brother had a work trip down to Miami last week/this weekend. All I heard was "free hotel." Like any good little sister, I packed my bags and bought a ticket to join him. I was even prepared to pretend to be his assistant or something but turns out no one really cared that I was there.

Just before sunset on the day I arrived

It's still "winter" in Florida, but it felt like Spring/Summer to me so I was happy. Other than taking long walks on the beach, I also enjoy exploring my new surroundings via parkour runs. The first morning there, I threw on my neon APK tank and some capris and headed out. I jogged along the promenade (I'm not being pretentious, this is really the only word I can use to describe it... especially given all of the people I saw dressed to impress, promenading themselves throughout the day).

View from the roof of our hotel on the first morning

Along the promenade, there is a stone wall that varies in height and has a few gaps which are perfect for precisions or a stride down and back up onto the wall. Throughout my run, I stopped at each section of wall gaps to work on precisions. They were a good distance apart, making it challenging but not out of reach for me. Farther down the path, there were wider gaps for the beach entrances, enclosed on either side by a large pillar. Perfect for cats/wall climbs.

On the outside of the entrance, I could use the wall to give me a leg up and get on top of the pillar. But in between the pillars there were these little stumps of stone about knee height to jump/stride along. After jumping down from the first pillar, I hopped along the little stumps and got to the next pillar. There was enough space between me and the pillar for a difficult but doable cat leap. I wasn't sure if I would make it but I thought, what the hell, let's try it. I jumped and caught the pillar, amazed. And then I was stuck. Seriously. I couldn't get anywhere. It was a corally surface so it was rough on my hands and, even better, the top was shaped like a slanty dome so the grip I had was tilting down towards me. I didn't really think this through. I tried to do a climb up and got up to my chin, legs pushing off the wall in a scramble. Nothing. I felt like a puppy trying to climb up the stairs for the first time. I decided that was enough struggle for one attempt and dropped down to continue my jog.

Luckily, the next several beach entrances looked exactly the same. I guess I'm not getting away with only one attempt. The pillars were challenging me. Fine, I thought. I'll keep trying and making a fool of myself. Again, standing on the little stone stump, I stared at the pillar for a few minutes then jumped to a cat position. I held on, adjusting my fingers to get a grip. I found a little hole this time right under one of my index fingers and it was just enough to keep me there. I managed to maneuver my way up (no elbows, I promise!) and on top of the pillar. Victory is mine!

While I sat in triumph on top of the pillar, panting and smiling like an idiot, a little old lady paused with surprise at the sight of me towering over her. "Oh my!" she said, "how did you get up there?" A much easier question than why are you up there. I replied awkwardly, "I... uhh... I climbed up!" The look on her face told me she couldn't quite comprehend how someone might get to where I was comfortably sitting, looking out over the beach. She shook her head and wished me well as I hopped down to continue my exploration.

The Girls in the Neon Tanks

How we hold our meetings at APK. Thanks for the pic, Ryland!

It's officially winter so we had our January Meetup inside rather than our usual location in the park. APK was gracious enough to let us use the gym for a couple of hours which means we got to play with all of the sweet equipment APK Academy has to offer. We focused on climbing, wall runs, balance, and swinging to take advantage of the gym equipment. It's a little nicer to be inside sometimes, especially for beginners, because the surfaces are softer on the hands, and the bars are built for us to play on. At the park, you have to be much more careful about checking your surfaces!

We had about 14 girls this time including a few new ones which was great! We listened to Pandora's "80s Cardio" station and had tons of fun learning wall runs, cats, and how to swing and balance on the bars. Most of the girls were able to get on top of the box by the end of the Meetup which is amazing. I love seeing their faces when they get on top. It's usually something along the lines of Holy S#%$! I just did that! It reminds me why we do this every month.

After the Meetup, we stayed to play for a little bit. I got some conditioning in and did some bar work and climbing. It felt so good to get back into the swing of things (see what I did there?), but my hands felt so raw the next day. If I don't train on rough surfaces enough, I start to get soft (so punny today...) and my hands get all ripped up when I start climbing around again. Anyways, I enjoyed my time to play and train, and I felt very accomplished for the day between the meetup and my own workout. Plus I always feel great after spending the afternoon with such an awesome group of women.

A belated picture of our Christmas gifts! Neon APK tanks :)

Check out my article, "Five Reasons I Love Parkour"

I am extremely excited to share with you all that I was given the opportunity to write an article about parkour for a local website called Active Life DC. I've been working with the editor to promote our women's parkour meetups through the "events" section on their website, and he suggested writing about why I like to train parkour.

Although I ramble on about my training sessions on this blog for anyone to read, I was a little nervous about writing a more formal piece to be published on a website. It was also hard for me to think of only five short things to say about why I love parkour! Anyways, I hope you guys enjoy it!

Here is the link to the article: http://www.activelifedc.com/five-reasons-i-love-parkour/112648