Outdoorsy

I am an outdoorsy kind of guy. I wasn’t always. I grew up in Brooklyn. The closest I came to the outdoors back then was the tree in front of my house and summers in New Jersey.

I started enjoying the outdoors when I was in the Coast Guard, but that was mostly the beach. I didn’t really become outdoorsy till I moved to Atlanta, which I find funny because I chose Atlanta because it was a real city's city. One with a night life, buildings, museums, and everything else a real city has to offer. Not the outdoors.

I think my current outdoorsyness started many years ago with a 17 ½ inch Brook Trout. My brother-in-law took me trout fishing on the Chattahoochee River and with the catch of my first trout, I became a fan. Although I haven’t been fishing in a while, I have developed a fondness for the creeks and rivers of Georgia.

The second thing that contributed to my outdoorsyness was the adoption of my first dog, Tosi. Tosi and I lived in an apartment and had to walk everyday. This started me walking further and further, till I started hiking. To this day, I still like hiking. I like hiking so much that I became the co-coordinator/leader of the GRRA’s (Golden Retriever Rescue of Atlanta) hiking group, and have stayed even after the passing of Buddy.

The purchase of a mountain bike was the third event that contributed to my outdoorsyness. I hadn’t ridden a bike since I got my drivers license, but mountain biking had reminded me of the joys of childhood. I have not done anything since becoming an adult that reminded me of childlike fun more than mountain biking. Riding down some tight singletrack reminded me of being a kid (even though I never saw any singletrack in Brooklyn). It is exhilaration at its best.

Trail running is my most recent outdoorsy activity. If you run, you can’t beat trail running. You never have to worry about sucking in diesel fumes in the middle of the woods, like you do when running on the street. Even running the same trails over and over, it is more interesting than running on a treadmill (even with a TV).

Next year I think I’m going to take up Kayaking. Because, if your going to do something new, do something outdoorsy.