LITTLE ROCK — Why would you leave an air-conditioned office at 11:30 a.m. on a steamy Monday to walk briskly around a few blocks of downtown Little Rock in the company of a bunch of people you don’t know?
On your one and only lunch break.
Once a month.
About 60 people, most dressed in nearly identical blue T-shirts, showed up April 2 at the northwest corner of Main Street and Capitol Avenue for the first meeting of Downtown Little Rock Partnership’s Monday Mile “Main Street Mile” walk.
Sharon Priest, the partnership’s executive director, was to lead the way, and she was positively glowing in a black dress and pearls.
“I can’t do anything about the weather except apologize,” she said. “Who knew that it was going to be this hot in the beginning of April? ... But this is Arkansas, so
” ....
Meanwhile, at the Little Rock River Market, Mayor Mark Stodola entertained walkers who showed up for a riverine “Market Mile” route.
In its announcements for this once-a-month public pedestrianism planned for April, May, June but not July, Downtown Partnership suggested the two groups could inspire downtowners to form their own walking clubs.
Explaining that her route ought to take 15 or 20 minutes, Priest added, “Because pedestrian safety is really, really important, we are going to obey the traffic signals.”
Awww, the blue shirts said, obviously teasing.
“But I don’t want to lose any of you,” she bantered back. “So we want to make sure that you all show up ... I guess I can’t guarantee that you show up back to work, I just want to make sure that I’m not responsible for you all not showing up.”
The friendly mood prevailed throughout the brief walk.
The people who met Stodola at the River Market were given pedometers and water bottles, and were led through the picturesque William E. “Bill” Clark Presidential Park Wetlands.
Priest’s followers got her promise they’d have “some play pretties” next month. They also got to stride past the “Before I die I want to ...” chalkboard on the southwest corner of Main and Capitol. They had close-up views of some pansies in planter boxes on sidewalks along Main Street toward Interstate 630. They turned a corner at some point and walked west to Louisiana Street and then followed Louisiana to its intersection with Capitol, where the group disbanded.
A case of water bottles that awaited in the shade under an awning back beside the chalkboard went largely untapped because the blue shirted majority had headed in the opposite direction toward their employer - walk co-sponsor Arkansas Blue Cross and Blue Shield.
Priest said that several walkers had asked that the next Monday Mile, at 11:30 a.m. May 7, offer a two-mile option for those who are used to lunchtime striding.
Why not make it every week?
“Hmm,” she said, turning to a co-worker. “That’s something we could put out on our update. ‘How many of you would like to do it weekly?’”
Erma Jean Carter liked the idea of meeting every week. Resplendent in white from cap to shoes, the retired classroom teacher was one of only a few of the Main Street walkers not employed by Blue Cross. She read about the Monday Mile in the newspaper: “I walk every morning anyway in my neighborhood. So I said, ‘I’ll just join them.’”
She would be glad to walk 3 miles, every week or every day.
Among those wearing blue shirts was Chris Morris, a Web business analyst at Blue Cross. She also walks every day, on her lunch break.
“At night, too. That’s what I do for exercise, I walk,” she said. Walking appeals to her “because I need the exercise,and it clears my brain. You don’t have to think about anything.”
Although not wearing a blue shirt - “We forgot our blue shirts today” - Audrey Baker also works for Blue Cross, in purchasing. She explained that almost all of her co-workers are in fact walking daily downtown on their lunch breaks because they are participants in the insurance company’s annual Arkansas Fitness Challenge.
Ah, so this joining in the partnership’s public walk was expected, almost a condition of working at Blue Cross?
“It’s not expected,” Baker said, “you actually sign up on your own. It’s for our health and fitness.”
She intends to continue daily walks when the Fitness Challenge ends in May, and she has also joined the Women Run Arkansas women’s walking clinic near her home in Maumelle.
“Any time I can do it on my own, I walk,” Baker said.
More information on the Market Mile is at rivermarket.info or (501) 375-2552 and on the Main Street Mile is at downtownlr.com or (501) 375-0121.
ActiveStyle, Pages 25 on 04/09/2012