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Recreation
Enjoy the great outdoors

By Michael Tsai
Advertiser Staff Writer

In The Honolulu Advertiser's Top 10 survey ranking Hawai'i's top outdoor activities, walking was rated No. 1, followed by swimming, running, surfing, hiking, paddling, cycling, basketball, tennis and volleyball. Walking, experts say, is free and everyone can do it. Martha Hernandez • The Honolulu Advertiser

From the responses we've received the past 10 weeks, a lot of you are doing just that. Of course, a few of you would like to take us outside.

One thing is for sure: Whether it's ultramarathons, inline skating or the 19th hole, Hawai'i's people are passionate about their outdoor recreation.

Our Top 10 was a composite of responses we received from three health and fitness experts: University of Hawai'i associate professor of kinesiology and leisure science Dennis Chai; YMCA health and fitness director Jeff Deininger; and Angela Wagner, project manager for the state Department of Health's Health Promotion and Education Branch and coordinator for Kaho'omiki, Hawai'i's Council of Physical Activity.

Our experts evaluated activities based on health promotion, age appropriateness, cost, convenience, accessibility and the quality of outdoor experience—"outdoor-ness" if you will.

While our Top 10 was designed to highlight those activities that offered the most benefit to the broadest range of people with the least amount of risk and inconvenience, we maintain that any outdoor activity that contributes to your health and happiness is a good one.

We started our list in January with volleyball and worked our way up to walking.

"Walking?" some of you asked.

Absolutely, said our expert panel. It's free, nearly everyone can do it and it's a great way to break into an exercise regimen. Our experts liked the fact that you can walk if you're 1 or 101, around your block or around the island.

What's more, you don't need any special equipment to walk. Heck, you don't even have be very coordinated. Just one foot in front of the other. And as you're doing it, you can share quality time with friends and family, explore the nooks and crannies of our unique community, and help ward off a host of health problems.

For some readers, however, it wasn't what was on the list so much as what wasn't.

Christine Watanabe couldn't find horseback riding.

"Considering that there are lots of horse owners out there, I think you slighted a large part of these sportspeople — team penners, team sorters, team ropers, barrel racers, ropers, hunter/jumpers, dressage riders, combined training riders, trail riders," she wrote. "I think you get the picture."

Khalil Spencer didn't appreciate our reasons for excluding inline skating from the list, particularly our mention of the relative lack of safe skating paths.

"Reminds me of the old canard that one can't bicycle without a bike path," he wrote. "Back to the couch, you potatoes."

Charlie Brown was especially prickly at what he thought was a decision to include golf (it wasn't) but not soccer, which he and his three sons enjoy.

"I bet each one of my sons is in better physical condition from soccer than 99 percent of the Advertiser staff," he wrote.

OK, so he may have a point there.

Others simply appreciated our attempt to stir the pot. Several people contacted us for more information, or for advice on how to get started on a given activity. Others wrote to share outdoor experiences.

Our favorite was Abe White, 62, who called to say he has participated in all 10 of our featured activities — this year.

"But what happened to golf?" he asked.