free runs

A shoe specially made by Nike. Used for running or training.

Free-running treats the urban landscape as an adult playground. It treats man-made structures as an obstacle course that participants negotiate by daring feats of graceful gymnastics. It was invented by a group of childhood friends in Lisses, near Paris—as in so many suburban towns, there was little for young people to do, so Sebastien Foucan, David Belle and others created what they call le parkour (a deliberately un-French spelling to make the point that they were doing something different).
David Belle was filmed for a promotional trailer in which he rushed home across London’s rooftops to catch his favourite TV program. More recently, a trio of free-runners were seen in a program called Jump London.
The sport grew out of attempts to imitate ninja feats. Unlike other extreme activities, it has developed a philosophy. “It is not just a game,” Sebastien Foucan said, “it is a discipline because it is a way of facing our fears and demons that you can apply to the rest of your life.”

people get parkour and free running mixed up, well that are somewhat correct, parkour is movement without tricking where free running has tricking but has some of the same properties as parkour, putting it basically, free running is both parkour and tricking put together to make free running

A sport and art, started in the 1980s in France by bored teenagers, where a person vaults, climbs, and does acrobatic stunts off of objects in their path instead of merely running around them.

free running is often mixed up with parkour. Although the two are often physically similar, the mindsets of each are vastly different. free running is moving from point a to point b as effeciently as possible with style involved such as flips, gainers, and spins. Freerunning is essentially complete freedom of movement. parkour is the same without the style involved. From the start the parkour community has been always against the idea of serious competition as it violates the foundations of the philosophy of parkour . it spawned off of parkour which was started in the 1980's by david belle. The term free running was coined during the filming of Jump London, as a way to present parkour to the English-speaking world. alot of free runners practice in groups and have a philosophy about it which is really david belles whole idea. The philosophy is dicipline mentally and physically. If you dont think it is a mental discipline you are completely wrong the fact that you try to jump a 20 foot camp 15 eet of the ground can really get you.but this is what free running really is for even more info wiki it.

I think the people before me don't even practice Free Running... Free running is the art of moving your body in an aesthetically pleasing way.
Not to be confused with Parkour, which is moving from point A to point B as quickly as possible using objects in your way as shortcuts rather than obstacles. Well, as the need for efficiency declines throughout the years, more of a focus was based on aesthetics, such as flips and spins. Moves such as these weren't as efficient as much as the were aesthetic, so these were classified as free running moves.
There is no mindset of movement when doing free running as opposed to parkour.
Parkour has within itself the intention of moving from one place to another very quickly, whereas in free running you could be in the same place for hours on end with no intent of movement.

Commonly mistaken for Parkour,(Getting from point A to point B as efficiently as possible) Free running is more or less a mixture of Parkour and tricking(a kind of extreme sport where the "athletes" do fast, flips, and kicks continually in sequences) Free running is a mixture of vaults, flips, spins, and other flashy tricks in an outside environment. Free running is practiced with a different mind set then parkour. Free running is practiced often to express ones self through movement, to enjoy the tricks for fun, and to become more free then an average human. to be more physically equipped. to free ones self from an ordinary life style. Some may use these ability's to show off rather then just for fun but it is their choice not anyone elses. It Takes Great skill, strength, technique, and fearlessness to practice free running.