It’s called Skip Around the World and it is a montage of people skipping across the globe, in the same spirit as the “Where the hell is Matt” videos from a while back.  It was created by an advertising company in Los Angeles.

You can watch the video (and upload your own) on the Skip Around the World website.  Be sure to check it out!

I continue to be amazed by the ways his path and the one I have been skipping the past 13-years mirror each other!

We both became so passionate about the benefits of skipping that we took our message to the streets literally and figuratively. Him in the 1980s and me twenty years later in the early 2000s.

We both got significant press for our efforts. He was on the Today Show. I was in People. Time, and Newsweek Magazines.

He almost skipped with Richard Simmons. I skipped with Donny Osmond.

Him writing a screenplay after his skipping billboard business failed. Me skipping myself into financial ruin when I realized the manuscript I was writing about the skipping experience (that I had quit my day job to write) didn’t cut the mustard editorially.

Both of our passions for skipping have cooled drastically over the years, with him skipping out of the public eye to the point that I have not been able to find his name or anything, despite multiple people telling me the story of this skipper who had lived in Newport, RI that had gotten a lot of publicity in the 80s.

I even visited Newport once and asked everyone I knew if they had met him or remembered him. One evening in a bar, an African American fellow told me that he had been the Newport skipper and made up a whole story that I bought  hook line and sinker… That is until I wrote about it in the “As the World Skips” newsletter I was doing at the time and someone from Rhode Island wrote to tell me that I had been had because the REAL Newport skipper had been white and that I’d been had. Doh!

I find it sad that the homophobia thing is likely what caused Bill to stop his skipping campaign. It is a sad but true reality that much of our culture can’t seem to deal with the idea of male skippers today… So I can’t imagine what it would have been like in the 80s! All you have to do is read the chain of juvenile comments under his YouTube video to see how far we still have to go as a culture before skipping joyfully down the street isn’t loaded with negative connotations!

The resurgence of the story of Bill’s mission has inspired me to skip a lot more than usual the past couple of days.  I feel like the skipping movement has just discovered it has a long lost relative that it never new existed until now… and it makes me want to honor his early efforts by skipping as much as possible.

I would love to be able to interview Bill Martinelli about his story or at least to compare notes since we are living such parallel lives. I am going to continue to see if I can find him!  If you have any tips that might point me in the right direction, please email me and let me know!

Imagine our surprise when we were sent this video today that at long last gives us a glimpse of the the 80s skipper in action:

It seems that Bill not only lived in Charlotte, but in Florida too based on this article about him applying for a permit to be able to skip around town with a billboard for money that was ultimately denied in Broward County Florida in 1988. We’ve also heard about a skipper from Newport, Rhode Island as well, but aren’t sure if this is the same guy.

We are thrilled to at least know the name of this early pioneer of the skipping movement so we can officially add him to the Skipping Hall of Fame and would love to connect with Bill Martinelli! If anyone out there knows him, please ask him to get in touch via email!  Or if you have stories about Bill’s skipping many moons ago to relay, we’d love to hear those too.

Ashrita says, “A half marathon is 13.1 miles. My time was 2 hours 39 minutes and 44 seconds. I skipped inside the grounds back and forth along a 100-yard course, just a little to the side of where the photo was taken, in front of the Taj Mahal.”

Ashrita is also the record holder for skipping the fastest fastest marathon (26.2 miles) in 5 hours 55 min 13 sec in Canada. as well as the record for skipping the fastest 5K in 35 minutes and 19 seconds.

Skip on, Ashrita! You never cease to amaze us!

Then as usual when I got home the familiar refrain of all of the reasons it would be a lot easier to skip the skipping started to chime in. “It’s too dark.” “It’s too cold.” “I’ll go for a skip tomorrow instead.” “I need to chill for a while after work first” Etc. etc. etc.

Thankfully, I decided not to heed those voices and put my workout clothes, sneakers, and ipod on within minutes of getting home and hit the street.  I’m so glad I did!  I was so inspired when I got back that I created this video log too!  Hooray for finally saying yes to the inner nudges I’ve been feeling to skip, write, and give video logging a try:

Here’s a list of the fun skipping techniques I experimented with tonight that reminded me why skipping is my absolute favorite way to exercise!

1. Walk with a Side of Skipping – The simplest way to incorporate skipping fun into your life when you first start is to simply go  for a walk around the block or down your street and  decide how many steps you are going to skip on your outing before you start….This can be as few or as many as you want. Ten steps is a great place to start, especially if you are feeling self-conscious about skipping in public!

2. Landmark Skipping – Since I’m out of skipping shape at the moment, I started my skip where the sidewalk by my house meets the road and I went as far as I could without becoming too winded. I made it to a lamp post 50 yards from where I started and mental note of how far I’d gone so next time I can try to make it to another landmark. Note that the best way to skip as an adult is to stay as low to the ground as possible when you first start. Otherwise you’ll use too much energy too fast!

3.Walk 4, Skip 4 -  This is a great way to keep skipping without getting overly tired. You simply walk four steps and then skip four steps. Walk four steps skip four steps. Or you can play with mixing it up however you’d like.  Walk 5 and skip 2.  Walk 10 and skip 10, etc. etc.   It’s much easier to go for long distances when you blend in some walking rather then trying to skip the whole way.

4 Skipping circles – Tonight I skipped to a small parking area near my house where no one was around.  While there, I skipped around in a circle, did some figure 8s, etc. while listening to one of my favorite songs on my ipod. There seems to be something especially fun about skipping when you have no place to go.  For this reason, I tend to prefer skipping in circles – whether in an empty group exercise room at the gym or in an open space like I did tonight – over simply skipping in a straight line down the street.

6. Wizard of Oz Skip -  I also had a lot of fun mixing galloping in with my skipping. Galloping is basically the same as skipping but you don’t alternate legs. While the Wizard of Oz skip is a little more fancy, you can get a similar result by galloping for two steps with the left leg in front and then switching to galloping with the right leg in front and repeating over and over. It’s fun and silly and makes me laugh every time I do it.

7. Skip around your living room -When I got home from my outdoor skip, a particularly fun song was on my ipod so I took off my shoes and skipped around my living room!  I also danced and bounced and generally had a great time being silly and letting the exhilaration of my outdoor skipping adventure continue in the privacy of my own home.

8. Long Distance Skipping – Of course, you also can skip for long distances…I’ve gone for 2 or 3 miles at a time when I was in prime skipping shape and some skippers go longer! Ashrita Furman even skipped an entire marathon!  I look forward to being back at a place where I get lost in a skipping zone and skip for a really long way…but for now I am not quite there yet.

As you can see there are a wide variety of ways to get your skip on! The most important part to remember is that it is supposed to be enjoyable!  Skipping is all about fun and frivolity and it just isn’t the same if you take those two ingredients out of the mix!  So why not go out and give it a try! You won’t be sorry!

Of course, I still skip…. Zumba and Nia classes have been my preferred outlet of late…and when I’m hurrying to get through a cross walk, the bounce seems to naturally come into my step..Not to mention other spontaneous moments when my skipping self springs to life. But when it comes to going out with the sole intention of skipping for fun and fitness, I’ve pretty much been skipping it all together and, as a result, the updating of this skipping blog has fallen to the wayside too.

I am welcoming Rocky energy into my life!  I’m ready to reclaim my skipping mojo. I’m ready to write about and document that process here.  My goal for this coming week is to go for at least one skip and to reclaim my writing voice too by posting about my experience here.

I understand why part of me has been scared to open herself up in this way again. Really I do….It’s been a long, strange skip that hasn’t always been easy!  But at the same time, another part of me feels ready to break new ground and to fully experience the many benefits of skipping again!     So this intention setting blog entry is my first step in skipping to it!

Want to join me?  What things that bring you joy would you like to do more of?

This is our favorite part, “…the vivid hop from foot to foot, the hurrying toward and with delight.”

Enjoy and skip on!

Over 6000 kindred skipping spirits from around the globe participated in this fun event by skipping at some point during the day on Sunday July 31st wherever they were (whether physically or simply w/ in their heart.)

Dawna has already created the Facebook page for the 2nd annual Skipping Up and Down the Street Day on 7/31/12..so please take a moment to RSVP on the event page to show your support and join the fun! We’d also love it if you could help us spread the word about the event by forwarding the invite to your like-minded FB friends so they can RSVP and join the skipping fun too!

We’re really looking forward to our next collective virtual skip on Sunday July 31st, 2012! Until then, skip loud, skip proud, and skip on!

He broke the record while visiting Bali and to celebrate, he skipped 50-yards with an orangutan’s on his back! Here’s a short excerpt from a post on Ashrita’s blog that is written from the orangutan’s perspective!

Okay, I’m as open minded as the next orangutan but, if you ask me, the human currently skipping around the Safari Park is a few bananas short of a bunch – if you know what I mean. Let’s face it, humans walk weird enough as it is – using only two legs instead of on going all fours. But on top of that, this maniac is doing some awkward movement that my trainer calls “skipping”. For God’s sake, it’s 85 degrees outside and the humidity is off the charts.