Who I Am
Hi there! My name is Janine.
I’m an Alberta girl who splits her time between the prairies and the mountains.
I’m often joined by my handicapped chiweenie, Hunter.
I’m a former indoors enthusiast, but I remain an expert napper. I work as a nurse in an operating room, and spend lots of my free time walking uphill and sighing heavily.
Why I Made This Blog
I grew up like this:
Which meant that sports and exercise weren’t really my thing. I didn’t want to struggle to breathe or be sweaty and sticky. Ew, no.
Then one day, a girl I knew posted a photo of her on top of a mountain. And I decided I wanted to do that too.
I didn’t realize how hard it would be.
But standing on the summit, staring down at the town we started from, it was the first time I could tangibly see how hard I had worked. It was the first time I felt like I actually accomplished something. In that moment, my life changed forever.
I assumed that exercise was just easy for other people. I thought it was something other people were just naturally good at, and that’s why they liked it.
Now I understand that there’s this unexplainable pride in pushing yourself physically, and overcoming the things that feel impossible.
Because of this realization, I started hiking more.
I was chasing summits.
I wanted to stand on top of all the mountains and experience that feeling over and over again.
I want you to experience that feeling too.
I started as a beginner and made so many mistakes. I’ve gone looking for information on things that no one seemed to be talking about. I’ve felt dumb for not knowing the terminology and the gear and the locations.
Now that I’ve gone through it and learned so much, I want you to have the information I wish I had. I want to be the resource for you to feel confident exploring, adventuring, and falling in love with your life.
And if you laugh a little along the way, that’s a beautiful thing.
Welcome to Chasing Summits. Happy trails.
