- [Announcer] Fleet Feet believes that running changes everything.

And we're proud to sponsor "Crosscut's Out & Back with Alison Mariella Deir."

We host fun runs, training groups, and events.

Whether you're training for your first mile or your 50th marathon, we're here to run with you.

(gentle music) - [Alison] Welcome back.

It's me, Alison Mariella Desir back for season two.

And boy have I been busy.

(gentle music continues) The theme of this season is #membersonly.

I'm talking about outdoor activities that have been fiercely guarded by membership fees, that require a freedom to exist unbothered in nature, and include expensive equipment.

Activities like skiing, horseback riding, surfing, and birdwatching.

I cannot wait to share all of this adventure with you.

(gentle music continues) (upbeat music) (birds chirping) - Welcome everyone.

Thank you for coming out tonight.

How is everyone today?

- [Various] Good.

- Good.

- Happy to be here.

- Yes, I'm happy that you are here too.

Side to side, pushing through that outer foot.

(Alison laughs) Yeah.

My name is Aaliyah Earvin, and I am a fitness professional, community builder, and mom.

Pull the toe up.

So my run club is north of Seattle.

It's like the family reunion.

Everybody there is very interconnected in the run club on Wednesday and outside of the run club.

We're very supportive of each other.

As we're out on the trail, everybody's cheering each other on.

(people cheering and clapping) - For me, Wednesday nights are not about being fast.

They're not about getting a workout in.

They're about play for my son and play for me too, right.

So the fact that that was the vibe, I was like, oh, I could just like let my hair down at this event and it can be an opportunity for me to bond with my son, to bond with your daughters, to meet new people, and feel a sense of community.

- Well, my life philosophy is like, if I'm winning, everybody around me is winning, and if I'm losing then everyone around me is losing.

I just find that if you really want a community that you have to support everyone in the community because it doesn't matter if you're the shining star if you're the only star out there.

- [Alison] When you moved here, how was it for you to find community?

- Well, I moved here in August 2019.

So we all know what happened six months later.

And so I was still very much dependent on my community back in Ohio when I first moved here and my friends through work.

And then 2020 happened, and we all went home.

And I was like, "How am I going to find community?"

And once things started opening back up, I said, "It's now or never."

And it instantaneously happened.

I would go out and, you know, make a friend and then make another friend.

And before I knew it, I had this big community where I could pick up the phone and say, "Hey, I need help with getting the girls on the bus to school."

And somebody's like, "Yeah, I could do that for you."

Or "I need to go to Atlanta.

Who wants to babysit my kids?"

"I'll do that."

I was like, "Wait, what?"

(laughs) - You're the only friend I found who I can do that with.

(both laugh) - You have to ask and be open to receiving that.

And I was telling somebody that yesterday 'cause she was like, "I don't have that."

And I said, "Yes you do, so just ask."

- I moved in January of 2021.

So that means that you weren't like very much ahead of me in the game of finding people.

(both chuckle) - It all just collided together like it was destined to happen almost.

- Part of what has been really helpful for me is having this show (gentle music) because it made it my job to find people doing amazing things in the outdoors.

And when I first got here, I really did feel like these were things that Black people didn't do.

And now the longer I spend here and the more I do this show, I realize like we really do everything, right, because I know people doing all of those things and who are telling me the deep family history of generations doing these things.

- Even though I grew up doing like a lot of different things, I still didn't think it was for me because I didn't see a lot of us doing those things.

Or if I invite my Black friends with me to do these things, like hiking, they're like, "No."

And I'm like, "Why so fast?

Like you haven't even tried."

"No, I don't wanna do that.

It's not for me."

But now, like having this larger group of people of color just being outside in nature, they're like, "Yeah, I wanna do that.

I actually had fun.

Let's do it again."

- [Alison] And for our kids, this is just life.

They just are outside.

They're doing these things.

They're at the lake.

They're hiking, right.

That to me is really cool too.

My son, your daughters will never have to wonder if it's for them because they've been doing it their whole lives.

I guess like the universe has some kind of plan for me because I've been able to combine my love of outdoors with storytelling.

Then with taking people to experience these places.

It is just so fulfilling to be able to share what I love with the folks I love around me.

- And it also gives us the confidence to do it on our own.

So just to see you take that leap for us, we're like right there behind you.

Go Alison.

- Thank you.

(soft intriguing music) - [Aaliyah] It was funny because when I started talking about building this run club, my girls was like, "You mean our run club?"

And so that's why I always say like, "It's not my run club, it's actually our run club."

They wanted to be a part of this.

I always look at them and say they take up so much space.

And then I did one that I was their age.

And it just makes me think of like how much they can start enjoying outdoors at a younger age.

And how they can connect with people that look like them and have no hesitation to go together somewhere as a group where I'm just experiencing that as a adult.

- [Alison] For a while I was worried about whether I would find my people, if my son would find his people, but I think it's really special that you've created that place for us.

(soft intriguing music continues) - [Announcer] Fleet Feet is on a mission to inspire the runner in everyone and is proud to sponsor "Crosscut's Out & Back with Alison Mariella Desir."