{"id":145479,"date":"2020-03-03T11:09:46","date_gmt":"2020-03-03T19:09:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/?p=145479"},"modified":"2021-06-03T14:52:17","modified_gmt":"2021-06-03T21:52:17","slug":"theres-no-age-limit-on-a-woman-enjoying-time-outside","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/news\/theres-no-age-limit-on-a-woman-enjoying-time-outside","title":{"rendered":"There\u2019s No Age Limit on a Woman Enjoying Time Outside"},"content":{"rendered":"

Karen Warren, an outdoor instructor at Hampshire College, has <\/span>written about how media depicts women differently than men<\/span><\/a>. That despite achievements by women and girls, the outdoors remains painted as a man\u2019s domain.<\/span><\/p>\n

She\u2019s experienced firsthand the stigma those depictions create.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

When Warren, 65, hiked Angel\u2019s Landing in Utah\u2019s Zion National Park in May 2019, onlookers cheered her on, shouting things like \u201cyou can do it\u201d as she stepped along the trail\u2019s rocky ridge. Upon finishing, a guy looked at her and exclaimed: \u201cYou made it!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m thinking the whole time: \u2018I knew I was going to make it,\u2019\u201d she said. \u201cIt made me feel frustrated.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The media helps create these stereotypes, Warren says. Whether it\u2019s the idea that women participate in less-demanding outdoor activities or that women older than 50 can\u2019t hack it outside, falsehoods spread through inaccurate depictions or a lack of representation. The latter is especially true. About <\/span>15 percent of all media images feature people older than 50<\/span><\/a>, even though the age group comprises nearly half the population, according to AARP.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

When publishers do feature women older than 50, Warren says, it\u2019s because they\u2019ve done something extraordinary: \u201cIf you are going to see women [above a certain age in outdoor media], it\u2019s going to be the superwoman. It\u2019s going to be the anomaly. It\u2019s going to be this woman who broke all odds.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Warren says women 50 and older tend to have less of a place in headlines, even when they\u2019re participating as often as their younger counterparts. The disappearing act begins in their 50s or 60s.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe reason [an older woman] is shown is because she\u2019s exemplary,\u201d Warren says. \u201cIt\u2019s not because she\u2019s an outdoor person. We\u2019re all surprised because she can climb 5.12 or she can still make a first ascent at her age.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Ultimately, this sends a strong message to these women: \u201cIt says, \u2018you can\u2019t do it,\u2019\u201d Warren says.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But many women <\/span>are <\/span><\/i>doing things outside\u2014whether it\u2019s learning to backpack, running races around the world or enjoying a weekly walk at the park. Here, five women from different decades share their personal outdoor stories, proving there\u2019s no age limit on time outside.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Aprille Moore, 36, Atlanta, Georgia<\/b><\/h3>\n

Commitment over convenience. That\u2019s the adage to which Aprille Moore subscribes. It perhaps explains how, in the past five years, she\u2019s run five marathons, 19 half marathons and the equivalent of about nine marathons\u2019 worth of smaller races. It explains how she began rising before the sun to join friends from Black Girls RUN! for early-morning jogs. And even how she discovered Black Girls RUN!, a group that allowed her to meet other runners like herself.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But Moore likes to remind people: Five years ago, she wasn\u2019t a runner, and she certainly wasn\u2019t a morning person.<\/span><\/p>\n

Moore, a police officer, first considered the sport in 2015 when she joined one of her supervisors for a sub-two-mile run. Twenty-five yards in, she was winded. A year later, she tried again, running a 10K with her police chief. She performed all right, she says, but wanted to do better. She began running on her own, but soon began searching for a group of women to run with. \u201cMost of my friends were like, \u2018Run? Who\u2019s getting up to run?\u2019\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Eventually, Moore found Black Girls RUN! on Facebook. She felt intimidated by the group at first, and she jokes that she \u201cstalked\u201d them for months before finally committing to a run. When she finally did, it was a cold, 5am jog\u2014cementing, in a way, her transition to becoming both a runner and a morning person.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThat was in February and by September I applied to be an ambassador, and I\u2019ve been an ambassador ever since,\u201d she says. Black Girls RUN! ambassadors volunteer time to organize runs and workshops, among other things. REI has supported the organization for the past several years, providing product trainings, financial support and gear donations, as well as partnering on campaigns such as <\/span>Opt Outside<\/span><\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Now Moore runs marathons in different countries and has set a personal goal to someday complete a race on every continent. Her most recent: Antarctica. In January, Moore traveled to the southernmost continent, where she raced on a course made from gravel, ice and mud she describes as being the consistency of \u201cquicksand and peanut butter mixed together.\u201d She ran through 15 mph winds in temperatures that dipped to a finger-numbing 18 degrees. Still, she ran. Over gravel that ranged in size from pebbles to cantaloupes. Past seals and penguins. Up a course that climbed about 3,000 feet.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cYou couldn\u2019t have told me five years ago that I would be getting up at 4 in the morning to go running at 5 with a group of women two or three times a week, or that I would be excited about doing long runs,\u201d she says.<\/span><\/p>\n

Moore has also used running as an antidote for unexpected challenges. When Moore divorced her husband more than a year ago, running helped her heal. \u201cIt was tough,\u201d she says, but her moments of putting foot to pavement kept her sane. If she wanted to run off a bad day, she could. \u201cThe pavement is there. The woods are there. The trails are there. The parks are there,\u201d she says.<\/span><\/p>\n

These days, Moore runs up to 25 miles a week. Sometimes she\u2019s preparing for an international race. Other times, she\u2019s just jogging with friends, happy to be moving.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s like taking a shot of caffeine. It really keeps me going throughout the day and gives me a sense of accomplishment,\u201d she says. \u201cI did something healthy that was for me. That didn\u2019t require me to spend any money. It just required me to invest the time in myself.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"

Brandy Pirtle-Guiney walks through Portland’s Forest Park with her son, Asher. (Photo Credit: Isaac Lane Koval)<\/p><\/div>\n

Brandy Pirtle-Guiney, 42, Portland, Oregon<\/b><\/h3>\n

Brandy Pirtle-Guiney\u2019s first camping trip 12 years ago came with its hiccups. She and her now wife, Elana Pirtle-Guiney, an REI member, picked out a spot along Oregon\u2019s John Day River, a winding tributary that runs through muted-brown hills. They planned to cook over a campfire and take dips in the river. But an unexpected fire ban foiled half of those plans, and so they swapped warm camp food for cold hummus and trail mix. Even still, the trip piqued Pirtle-Guiney\u2019s interest in embracing the outdoors.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt was one of those great experiences where we had nothing else \u2026 and we had to really enjoy where we were and what we were doing,\u201d she says.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Today, Pirtle-Guiney camps regularly at the coast with Elana Pirtle-Guiney and 4-year-old son, Asher. But even with this camping cred, Pirtle-Guiney hesitates to call herself an outdoorswoman. \u201cI think I have a hard time with that because there are people who are so much more outdoorsy,\u201d she says.<\/span><\/p>\n

The hesitancy partly stems from not seeing many people like herself on the trail. The people advertised doing outdoor activities are typically \u201cincredibly fit, white, young and economically well off,\u201d she says. Pirtle-Guiney is of Mexican descent, and she doesn\u2019t consider herself athletic.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I first started doing outdoorsy things, I felt like I was in someone else\u2019s world versus doing something I had every right to do,\u201d she says.<\/span><\/p>\n

Those stereotypes have prompted her to qualify her outdoor time. She\u2019s quick to note that she\u2019s a fair-weather hiker (she prefers reading indoors when it\u2019s raining), and that she\u2019s not interested in backpacking or climbing. She says she doesn\u2019t have nature in her bones the way her wife, Elana, does. And when she thinks of what it means to be outdoorsy, her mind drifts to a person scaling a rock wall. Still, Pirtle-Guiney heads outside often, enjoying Forest Park\u2019s shade-cloaked trails that wind through Portland. Or trips to Oregon\u2019s Rockaway Beach, which have become a favorite way to unplug from work.<\/span><\/p>\n

But Pirtle-Guiney also talks about the homogeneity of the outdoors. It\u2019s all too apparent to her, and she thinks it\u2019s important to talk about it, knowing that if the outdoors were advertised differently, she might have adopted the space as her own sooner. Maybe she wouldn\u2019t hesitate to call herself an outdoorswoman.<\/span><\/p>\n

But she doesn\u2019t identify as an outdoor advocate. Pirtle-Guiney has adopted this role in other areas; for instance, she\u2019s a board member of the <\/span>Pride Foundation<\/span><\/a>, a LGBTQ+ advocacy organization\u00a0 in the Pacific Northwest. Her outdoor time, on the other hand, is just her outdoor time.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Even if she remains unsure about dubbing herself outdoorsy, she\u2019s certain about one thing: She wants people to discover a place outside, and she wants them to do it sooner than she did.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI would love to make somebody\u2019s journey to the outdoors faster than mine was.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"

Joanne Baste pictured on a recent hike. (Photo credit: Alma Baste)<\/p><\/div>\n

Joanne Baste, 53, Washington, D.C. metro area<\/b><\/h3>\n

Assessing a new bouldering problem isn\u2019t REI member Joanne Baste\u2019s lone challenge when climbing. She occasionally grapples with her ego on the rock wall, too.<\/span><\/p>\n

Many of her partners are 20 years her junior and climb with the vigor of someone who doesn\u2019t worry about getting hurt. But that\u2019s not Baste, who\u2019s a little more conservative in her approach.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s hard on your ego sometimes,\u201d Baste says. \u201cShould I use my age as an excuse? Is it just an excuse?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

In other ways, Baste has gained confidence from climbing. She better understands what her body can do and is more at peace with her identity outdoors. \u201cI am more, just, me,\u201d she says.<\/span><\/p>\n

This means she\u2019s OK with the fact that she prefers paddling through alligator-inhabited swamps over navigating aggressive white water. And that she\u2019s fine admitting she\u2019d rather climb a vertical wall than strap on a pair of skis.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t have to be any particular kind of outdoorsy person to be me,\u201d she says.<\/span><\/p>\n

But there\u2019s still pressure. She began climbing around 2010 in her mid-40s, taking up the sport just before her daughter moved away for college. Soon after, she became inspired to begin hiking trails near her home, taking her young pitbull mix Canela with her.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt can be intimidating to start something new,\u201d she says.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Baste remembers a trip in 2015 when she went sport climbing in West Virginia\u2019s Franklin Gorge with a friend and fellow climber. She says she\u2019s not as sure-footed as some of her friends, and she quickly began doubting whether she could finish the climb. But trying something new is like making a move on a wall: You have to commit.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cYou either have to down climb, or you need to make that move,\u201d she says.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The sport has also taught her to quiet the voices telling her she can\u2019t.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI think the thing that rock climbing has taught me more than anything is just how much is in your head that stops you,\u201d she says. \u201cYou can do a lot.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"

Millie Anderson enjoys one of her favorite activities outside of running: hula hooping. (Photo Courtesy: Millie Anderson)<\/p><\/div>\n

Millie Anderson, 64, Charleston, South Carolina<\/b><\/h3>\n

Millie Anderson likes to move. She bikes, cycles, hula hoops and runs. She dances and does chair yoga. She jokes that if she feels she\u2019s been sitting too long, she\u2019ll jump up to do some jumping jacks.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cMy husband looks at me like: \u2018she has lost her mind,\u2019\u201d she says, letting out a loud laugh.<\/span><\/p>\n

But Anderson is serious about moving, even if her tone is light. She wants to keep her body as sharp as her mind, and her favorite way to do that is by running or walking outside. Raised on a South Carolina farm, outdoor time is part of her life\u2019s fabric. She craves it.<\/span><\/p>\n

At home, she\u2019ll open doors and crack windows to invite a cool breeze. Sometimes she\u2019ll retreat to the open garage or her porch to relax in the sun. When she began running six years ago, it was a new way to fill up on fresh air. She started with walks that turned into slow jogs that morphed into 5Ks and 10Ks. A year and a half into it, she ran her first <\/span>marathon. She says she\u2019s more active today than she was in her 30s when she was raising three children. But she\u2019s always taken time for herself, and that time has always involved being outside.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not an indoor person,\u201d she emphasizes.<\/span><\/p>\n

When Anderson first became interested in running, she started with slow walks. She\u2019d meander for 10 minutes near her home. She remembers worrying that she was traveling too far from her neighborhood, and she\u2019d become anxious. But soon the routine became a familiar and wanted part of her day.<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s kept her healthy. \u201cI actually feel 30,\u201d she says. Like Moore, Anderson joined Black Girls RUN! to find a group of running partners. She says the group encourages her to continue running, and she inspires them in return. \u201cIt\u2019s not about running. It\u2019s about moving,\u201d she says.<\/span><\/p>\n

Of course, everyone needs a rest, and Anderson says she takes two or three days off a week for recovery. But after that, she\u2019s off again, not ready to slow down any time soon.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cMy head tells me, \u2018You\u2019re old. You need to sit down somewhere.\u2019 I\u2019m like nah, not today.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"

Kathy Carroll pictured on a hike with her brother in 2015. (Photo Courtesy: Kathy Carroll)<\/p><\/div>\n

Kathy Carroll, 72, San Francisco Bay Area<\/b><\/h4>\n

About a year ago, REI member Kathy Carroll decided to start backpacking.<\/span><\/p>\n

Shortly after, she began researching gear and training differently at the gym, swapping aerobics for weights. One afternoon last summer, she filled a daypack with two 10-pound weights and headed to a trail near her home. The paved, gently sloping path was the perfect testing ground for carrying the weight, which she someday plans to shoulder in the form of gear on a much longer trek.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Carroll made the decision to learn to backpack after reading about the mental health benefits of outdoor time. She wants to remain sharp and strong and being outside interests her. She spent her 20s running marathons and chasing two sons, but now she wants to witness a backcountry sunset. She even plans to use the skills on an eventual solo road trip to the Midwest, where her late mother grew up, and camp at state parks along the way.<\/span><\/p>\n

As with anything new, Carroll finds backpacking daunting. \u201c[I\u2019m] not exactly in limbo, but I\u2019m at a place where I\u2019m looking for how I\u2019m going to go in the direction I want to go with it,\u201d she says<\/span><\/p>\n

Though backpacking is novel, outdoor time isn\u2019t. Her mother regularly shooed her and her siblings into the yard to play when they were children. By the day\u2019s end, the kids would retreat indoors to rinse dirt from their soft feet. By summer\u2019s end, their skin had calloused from the daily play. In her 30s and 40s, Carroll took up jogging leaf-lined trails near her home, able to devour as many as 10 miles before breakfast. Even when it rained, she\u2019d trot through the drizzle.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThere was nobody else out there, but I would still be out there because I liked being out in the rain,\u201d she says.<\/span><\/p>\n

Still, Carroll didn\u2019t entertain camping or backpacking until she retired in 2015. She married a man who didn\u2019t know much about the backcountry. Together, they took their sons on resort vacations, only hiking occasionally. Carroll camped some as a child, but it was primarily out of necessity: Her family would spend summers exploring cities by day and sleep in campsites at night to save money.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe didn\u2019t think of [camping] as \u2018Oh, I\u2019m going to go be in nature,\u2019\u201d she says. \u201cWe would camp outside [the city] in this campground with all these other people, and then we would get dressed every day and go \u2026 be tourists.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

As she prepares for her own adventure, Carroll also reads, losing herself in memoirs written by women who have hiked mileage she plans to walk. The minimalist in her prevents her from keeping physical copies of many books, but she\u2019s permitted herself two: <\/span>101 Great Hikes of the San Francisco Bay Area<\/span><\/i><\/a> and <\/span>60 Hikes Within 60 Miles<\/span><\/i><\/a>. Soon, she may buy another: <\/span>Backpacking 101<\/span><\/i><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Carroll doesn\u2019t yet have advice for women who want to go backpacking for the first time. She\u2019s still figuring it out herself, through her training, gear browsing and researching.<\/span><\/p>\n

However, she does have a request for other women: \u201cCall me. Email me. Let\u2019s go.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

And Beyond<\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Spending time outside doesn\u2019t end in your 70s just as it doesn\u2019t begin in your 30s. Moore, Pirtle-Guiney, Baste, Anderson and Carroll are just a few of the women spending time outside in a way that makes sense to them.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Is there an outdoorswoman who inspires you? Share a story about this person in the comments below. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/span>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Karen Warren, an outdoor instructor at Hampshire College, has written about how media depicts women differently than men. That despite achievements by women and girls, the outdoors remains painted as a man\u2019s domain. She\u2019s experienced firsthand the stigma those depictions create.\u00a0\u00a0 When Warren, 65, hiked Angel\u2019s Landing in Utah\u2019s Zion National Park in May 2019, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16975,"featured_media":160355,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[685],"tags":[1866,2000,692],"internal-tag":[],"class_list":["post-145479","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-inclusion","tag-international-womens-day","tag-news"],"parsely":{"version":"1.1.0","canonical_url":"https:\/\/rei.com\/blog\/news\/theres-no-age-limit-on-a-woman-enjoying-time-outside","smart_links":{"inbound":0,"outbound":0},"traffic_boost_suggestions_count":0,"meta":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"There\u2019s No Age Limit on a Woman Enjoying Time Outside","url":"http:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/news\/theres-no-age-limit-on-a-woman-enjoying-time-outside","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/news\/theres-no-age-limit-on-a-woman-enjoying-time-outside"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2020\/03\/Aprille-Moore-1.jpg?resize=150%2C150","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2020\/03\/Aprille-Moore-1.jpg?fit=2000%2C1000"},"articleSection":"News","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"jaypurcell"}],"creator":["jaypurcell"],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Uncommon Path \u2013 An REI Co-op Publication","logo":""},"keywords":["inclusion","international women's day","news"],"dateCreated":"2020-03-03T19:09:46Z","datePublished":"2020-03-03T19:09:46Z","dateModified":"2021-06-03T21:52:17Z"},"rendered":"