Some people shape their lives around what others might call hobbies. A hobby is one thing. Serious recreation is something else.

No one thought Winston Churchill was a nut for painting landscapes in his spare time. Thomas Jefferson got Renaissance Man points for, among other intense pursuits, designing his own house and planting 36 varieties of grapes around the place.

Churchill and Jefferson were statesmen first, hobbyists second.

But some people — some ordinary people with ordinary jobs — see themselves as skydivers first. Or triathletes first. Or gardeners first.

Ruth Russell, an administrator and teacher at the School of Health, Physical Education and Recreation at Indiana University, has become fascinated with such practitioners of what is known in her field as serious recreation.

For many, the study of recreation lacks the serious status of political science or chemistry. Ms. Russell, who has studied and taught recreation for 30 years and has published six books on the subject, sometimes feels that when she mingles at parties with faculty members from, say, the business school, her specialty is trivialized.

She does not see herself or her studies as trivial, though. And she sees serious recreationalists all around her. Her own boss, David Gallahue, is one of them. He's a fiend for downhill skiing and mountain climbing.

Pursuing passions

A few years ago, Ms. Russell decided to make a study of the hard-core hobbyist. Actually, hobby is too soft and friendly a word for it, Ms. Russell says; she calls them passions.

Her first interview was with Mr. Gallahue, 59, who despite having had his hip joint replaced and against his orthopedist's advice, recently took a stab at Mount McKinley. And he routinely skis black-diamond runs in Colorado.

He describes downhill skiing this way: “It's just incredible. A thrill. An adrenaline rush.”

And Mr. Gallahue's passion is mild, by serious recreation standards.

Promotion? Forget it.

Happiest on the run

Cheryl Stine says there is no way she'd accept a promotion. She has been a computer programmer for 10 years — “and I don't want to move up.” If she moved up, she'd have less time to work out.

Ms. Stine, 36, competes in foot races and triathlons. She generally trains twice a day, for a couple of hours. To get in all the running and swimming and cycling and weightlifting, she begins her day at 5:30 a.m.

If she has a big race coming up, such as an Ironman triathlon (an Ironman consists of a 2.4-mile swim, a 112-mile bike ride, followed by a 26.2-mile run), Ms. Stine steps it up, training up to 20 hours a week. She usually trains with friends who are similarly committed.

She doesn't do it to win; she's a middle-of-the-packer. She does it because it makes her happy.

Ms. Stine and Mr. Gallahue are two of the 50 serious recreationalists Ms. Russell has interviewed in the past couple of years. When Ms. Russell completes another 50 interviews, she'll publish the series of vignettes in a book.

She found her interviewees through referrals from similarly committed recreationalists. “I'm using a sampling procedure called "snowballing,' ” she says.

Ms. Russell has not limited her subjects to lovers of sports. Some of her other subjects' passions include gardening, woodworking, stamp collecting and art history.

“My thesis is, it's not the activity, it's the manner in which the activity is pursued.”

For instance, just because you fly your own airplane does not mean you're book material.

But if you fly your own airplane every single morning before work, as one of Ms. Russell's subjects does, you'll get your own chapter.

Ms. Russell's art history buff is Helga Keller. Ms. Keller, who is in her late 50s, volunteers to give tours of the school's art museum. She collects books about art and art exhibition catalogs. She and her husband, who teaches Russian at IU, often travel to art museums in the United States and Europe.

Last year, she saw the van Gogh/Gauguin exhibit in Chicago. This year she saw it in Amsterdam. She figures she has been to the Louvre 15 times.

“The typical way is to grow up, get educated to get a job, then rise up the ladder, and then retire and collect stamps,” Ms. Russell says.

“Our society values work accomplishments more than play accomplishments.”

But Ms. Russell, who happens to have a collection of swizzle sticks that numbers in the thousands, does not judge her subjects. She admires them.

“They are pursuing their lives with vibrancy,” she says. “The way they talk about themselves and their experiences . . . these are people who have grabbed control of their lives.”

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