For the first time in, well I can’t really say how long, I can now walk to lunch.

From my new office in downtown Fort Wayne, I walked to lunch last Thursday to meet a friend and colleague.  It was 4 blocks.  There are at least a dozen places I can grab a bite in less than a mile from where I work and all are easy to walk to.

At my last couple of jobs, even though there were places to eat in a 1 mile radius, it was not safe to walk due to lack of sidewalks or non-friendly neighborhoods.

Racking my brain to recall a time when I had this opportunity previously, I come up with a big fat zero over 30 years.  That’s sad.

The Atlantic posted an article last week about this subject that I invite you to check out here.

Lots of good info and links including this tidbit:

Men and women age 50 to 71 who took a brisk walk nearly every day had a 27 percent reduced death rate compared to non-exercisers. Adding 20 minutes of vigorous exercise, 3 days a week resulted in a 32 percent reduced death rate. Combining vigorous exercise and walking each week produced a 50% reduced mortality. [Arch Internal Medicine, 2007]

But what also struck me was how I saw 5 friends during that lunch break who were all in the same area.  My lunch friend mentioned that I could probably earn a decent living if I only concentrated my business on downtown businesses that were within walking distance.

An interesting concept for sure.