At one time, I ran a blog called Fitterverse: A universe of fitness. This post originally appeared there. Thanks to the Wayback Machine, I’ve been able to recapture the text. I’ve published them here on their original publication dates.
I entered an alternate universe this morning.
A typical Monday for me often goes like this: drop Annie at school, walk the local greenway for cardio, head to the office.
Occasionally, the weather doesn’t cooperate. Not that I won’t walk in the rain, but a heavy downpour in the cold is something different.
I’d heard that many malls open their doors early and allow people to walk there, so I headed to North Point Mall, which is on the way to my office. I found a mall entrance, saw an open door, set my timer, and headed in.
I’d heard that the mall walking phenomenon was generally driven by the elderly. If you look at the shoes, you’d believe that it was old folks and nurses. But I was determined to get my cardio in this morning, come hell or high water.
It’s a bit surreal. North Point Mall doesn’t have a huge population of mall walkers, but they are diverse. I saw a group of young soccer-moms in yoga pants and tank tops, a number of elderly folks, and even a few of us middle agers. The surreal part is the environs. You’re in an empty mall. The Muzak plays. You can see in all the stores, but no shopping is going on, (though a few Apple freaks were camped out in front of the Apple store for some reason). I found it very odd. On the other side, it was comfortable, dry, and quiet. I didn’t get rained on and I got 25 minutes of cardio in.
You do what you gotta do.