I just came across this article and although I'm not a woman I faced the same transition in my social activity and the same continuous struggles in trying to balance. Actually I'll add a twist to the difficulty of balancing the social life in that I have a son and a sister with children a mother and a pretty typically scattering of extending family that also require attention and attendance to family events on weekends and sometimes plans include late nights.
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Bridging the City/Mountain Divide: On Being An Urban Woman with a Trail Lifestyle
Julia Magnusson
Before joining the AMC, my pool game was pretty sharp. Heck, even my first year as an AMC member I could still count on showing up at the local pub, partnering with some friendly but intense shooter, and holding the table all night. Outside the pub, I was plenty free for late nights with my friends, watching movies, making dinner, and dancing.
Then something changed. I don't know exactly when I started hiking with the AMC, but bit by bit I got more involved. Let's face it, it's hard to do an AMC hike without meeting at least a few interesting people. A summer whitewater kayaking class somehow led to late-summer mountain biking, which begat trail running, then when winter hit I furthered my snowshoeing skills by competing in snowshoe races, of all things, when I wasn't hiking. And so it went.
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http://amcboston.org/main2/mud.php?subaction=showfull&id=1136761595&archive=&start_from=&ucat=5&