Have you seen us yet? Have you seen us dart around Turlington or the Architecture building? If not, then we're doing our job correctly.

It goes by many names: free running, extreme running, urban ninja-ing...but officially, it's called parkour. It's a form of exercise for some and an art-form for others. Hence, there are many ways to describe it. Here's how to describe it to physics majors: parkour is getting from point A to point B by minimizing the linear time and distance in space-time. In layman's terms: running around, jumping over stuff while trying to look as cool as possible. Shimmying across ledges, climbing trees, jumping off small buildings, jumping across deadly gaps...that's what it's about.

Here is a member of the UF Parkour group on Halloween, the entire group dressed as ninjas that night. He shows an example of not bothering to take the stairs - instead, jump on its handrails and jump off.

For example, if a staircase on your way to class has a handrail supported by several vertical beams, why climb the staircase? That takes way too long. Instead, run perpendicularly to a linear stretch of the staircase (preferably near its highest point), jump up, and grab the vertical support beams. Pull yourself up using the beams, grab the handrail, and vault over it (a "thief" vault always looks good). This is an example of distance minimization: . Who actually goes around and climbs all those stairs?

You can also minimize the time dimension. A common thing to do is take a longer path to a destination, when you still get there faster than taking the "regular" path. On an average day of parkour-ing, you will jump across a few objects or buildings. Sometimes it's faster to run up and climb onto the roof, "cat" onto a different building, and slide down a gutter. Even if it only saves a few seconds, if you accumulate a bunch of those, you get more parkour!

The word parkour is French, as is the concept. Practiced daily by founder David Belle, a quick search on YouTube for his name retrieves hundreds of videos showcasing his mastery. You may have seen him in the movie District B13. Movies starring Jason Statham (The Transporter) or Jackie Chan also feature extended parkour scenes. Don't you love it when Jackie Chan "tic-tacs" two walls and climbs onto something high?

At UF, there is an official parkour group (official in that we have a Facebook group and everything...sigh). If you're interested in this activity or you're looking for a parkour buddy, just send us a message. It's like running, only cooler, and the university provides a great urban environment for this type of activity. Try it on your own sometime! UPD has not said anything...so far! (Editor's note: "Ahem, responsibly of course!")

Typically, you start off at Turlington. After a good stretch, you'll do "precision" jumping, which is trying to jump far and landing in a very precise place. Then you'll jump over a few newspaper dispensers, trashcans, and tables. Balance across a few bike racks and make your way over to the Turlington stairs, where you'll practice not using them to get to the second story (by wall-kicking). Then, do some cliff-hanging as you make your way towards Stadium Road, past the vending machines. Where you go from there is up to you.