Thanks to an article in Friday's News-Herald, I was especially inspired to do my miles today at the mall.  Although the mall walking program is voluntary, i.e. anybody can go there anytime and walk, I signed up at the Simon customer service booth anyway.  Joining gets you email notifications of mall events, typically health-related, and a few other perks (I think even a decoder ring).

Mall walking solved my bad weather problem.  Since I work 20 miles from my home, I really did not want to either skip doing my weekend miles nor drive all that way to work on my days off just to use the gym.

With yesterday being a somewhat low-activity day, I showed up at the mall at about 9 am and cranked out 7 miles taking just under 100 minutes to complete it.  My pace was as fast as I can walk, perhaps up to 4.5 miles per hour at times.  This was a welcome relief from the boredom of the treadmill.  Plus, I was a good boy.  I closed both nostrils passing through the food court and looked the other way when passing Victoria's Secret, stumbling into a potted plant or two while doing so.

There were a few dozen people there from all walks of life (pun intended).  There were old people, young people, and some people had obvious physical disabilities.  There were friends.  There were happy couples holding hands.  There may have even been some married couples, too.  No matter who they were, I applaud them for simply showing up.

Why not join us next Saturday and Sunday?