David: This is David. I'm speaking to an outdoor girl living in an indoor world. Jill, tell me about your love of the outdoors. How did it begin, and how did it begin?
Jill: [laughter] Well, I really just discovered I had a love for the outdoors about a year ago. I have a good friend who loves the outdoors, and my boyfriend also loves the outdoors, and so I just sort of started trying various activities with them, and just realized that I loved it too! So I'm fortunate enough to live somewhere where everything is just in my backyard, basically. We have the mountains, and we have ski hills, and trails to run in, and mountains to hike, and trails to ride your bikes in, and you know, the ocean to walk along or to run along, the ocean to sail on. You can just do any number of activities. So that's what I-that's where I spend the majority of my time outside of work, is in the outdoors. Hiking-usually hiking, running, or walking. However, in the winter it's a little more difficult with all the rain, and I don't get out as much, but I still try to get out and breathe some fresh air every day. David: Does it ever get exhausting, all those activities? Is there one activity in particular that you began with? Skiing, for instance-that began your love of the outdoors and doing things, and putting yourself in a climate that most people would want to run away from.
Jill: Yeah, it is exhausting, sometimes when you push yourself hard it's tiring. Sometimes you might take a few days or a week off at a time, and you just need your body to recover. But, you also feel exhilarated and you feel a lot of energy after you've finished doing the exercises and being outside. Days when I'm really tired and don't want to go, and force myself to go anyway, I always feel way better after, and I have more energy. Usually I sleep really well that night because I am tired. But, overall it makes me feel better. I did start skiing years ago, when I was young, when I was just a kid. I did that for years, and then I quit and really didn't do much outdoors. Like I said, just really got back into things a year or two ago, and I've sort of picked up snowboarding a little bit here and there. I've never really liked being cold, and that's part of why I've probably never been such an outdoors person, because here, for a lot of the months of the year it's quite cold. Now I've just learned as long as you wear the proper clothes, you don't get cold, and so you can be outside in colder temperatures or rainy weather and it's still great, and you don't have to freeze. So, it's fun. David: What's the one activity that you're doing right now that is offering the biggest blast, that you're just having the most fun at right now? Jill: I guess I'd probably have to say hiking. I don't always look forward to going. I know it's going to be difficult, I know it's going to be a lot of work, and I can't say that I'm always really excited getting up in the morning and thinking, "Oh, yeah, I'm going to push myself for two hours." Sometimes I would much rather just stay in bed, or I'd rather just do anything but that. I guess I get my motivation from knowing how great I feel at the end of it, and I feel so happy that I was able to accomplish that. So at the end of it, I feel great. Before and during, I'm not really that thrilled to do it. I prefer really just to walk, to do something a little more mellow that is not so strenuous. I could walk for hours, and I actually really enjoy that. I love that. Just smelling the air and taking in my surroundings. But the running and the hiking, I don't get so excited to do them, but I find that there's a bigger reward at the end, because I have pushed myself harder, so I just find at the end, the reward makes it worth it. David: Has this taken the place of the whole fitness club thing?
Jill: Yes, I have a gym membership, I have a gym membership, but I go every few weeks maybe once, and I definitely-I don't get there very often, because I would prefer to be outside. So, yeah, I definitely would say it has taken the place of the gym.
David: What piece of advice would you give the people at the gym who would think you're nuts for going out and hiking for two hours, as opposed to being on a step climber for forty-five minutes and getting the same workout? How would you drag them out of the health clubs and the fitness clubs and into the outdoors? What would you say? What was your revelation?
Jill: Well, I just find that I get extremely bored using a machine at the gym, it doesn't hold my interest. You're not going anywhere, you don't have a beginning point and a destination. You're just-you're going nowhere, and so I find it extremely boring, after ten minutes I can hardly stand it. So I find that being outdoors, you have beautiful surroundings, which is really important, so you can appreciate everything that's around you. You're not in a gym with a bunch of sweaty people and fluorescent lights, and it's hot, you know. You're out, and it's natural, and it's beautiful, and you're going somewhere. So, for me there's a lot more appeal to that, than walking in one place at the gym. David: When I go to the gym, it's an extremely solitary time for me. I'm never more alone than I am when I'm at the gym, concentrating. Other people are looking around, I'm concentrating to the point where when people ask me questions, I don't hear them, because I'm working out. These activities that you do outdoors-are you going with people and doing them with people, or are you going alone? Could you do this and have as much fun alone, or is it more important to go out in the elements by yourself and experience them like Henry David Thoreau, or someone like that?
Jill: No, I actually prefer to do it with somebody, I almost always do. If I have to go by myself, I will, but I generally don't and I don't choose to. Depending on what we're doing, sometimes we can have a bit of a conversation at the same time. If we're just doing a mellow, light run, we can kind of chat the whole way. Hiking, same thing. If you're pushing yourself really hard, then you can't talk, but it's just knowing that somebody's there with you, and motivating you if you start feeling like you need to stop or you just can't go on any further. There's always that person that's motivating you and telling you that you can do it, and you want to keep up with that person. You don't want to slow that person down. So I find for me, it's much more motivating to do these things with other people, and then at the end of it, there's always-we usually reward ourselves with having a great breakfast or a great dinner, whatever the time of day it happens to be. So I look forward to having the social part of it afterward.
David: What are one or two or three places in the Lower Mainland, Vancouver area, that are really great places to go? Often people will say they have a favorite trail, a favorite trail that nobody else knows about, a very few people know about. Do you have any places like that?
Jill: Because I live in North Van, and we have so many great trails here, I generally run in Lynn Headwaters, and there's just a million trails in there. There's all sorts of stuff you can do. You can do hikes, or you can run around the lake. And there's all levels, there's easy stuff, there's harder stuff. You can just walk. It's beautiful in there, so that's generally where I go. I also hike up Grouse Mountain the Grind, or the BCMC trails. I also love the seawall, the Stanley Park seawall, running around there or cycling around there, which is really easy. You don't have to be in good shape to rollerblade or to cycle around Stanley Park. It's so flat, so it's not difficult, but it's just really beautiful. So, those are probably the three places I like the best. I want us to get some snow, and I'm really excited to start snowshoeing, because we can't hike anymore once we have snow, the trails are too slippery. So I am looking really forward to being able to go snowshoeing, hopefully within the next month. This weekend, I'll probably just go for a couple nice, long walks. Maybe a little run in there, nothing too, too strenuous though.
David: What is the next big outdoor step that you hope to take? You said you're monkeying around with the snowboarding, you know, it gets more extreme from there. Is there something that you've got your heart set on-skydiving, blading? Jill: No, you know, I'm not a huge thrill seeker. I'm not. I don't need-I'm not into height things, and anything that requires a daredevil type of mentality. That's really not me. I just-I mean, I don't really have to be exercising outdoors, I just like to be outdoors. So I can be just sitting there, or I can just be-like I said, walking, or I just like breathing in the fresh air, and feeling the fresh air on my face. So I don't have any huge desire to do any crazy, extreme sport or anything. I might, one day, possibly start rock climbing, and it would be on a fairly small scale, I would think. Nothing like Everest or anything like that. So I've considered doing that, and I might do that. Improving my snowboarding abilities will be a challenge anyway, so I might focus on that for a while. I don't know, that's about it. David: Thank you very much for speaking with me.
Jill: You're welcome, thank you, David.
