Tag Archives: walking

Arlington, The Features, We Love Drinks
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We Love Drinks: The 1K Beer Walk

Photo courtesy of jcm_DC
Porter
courtesy of jcm_DC

If you’ve ever wanted to run a marathon but worry about whether your beer gut will slow you down, Washington Wine Academy‘s DC School of Beer has a perfect solution: the Beer Walk!

The beer walk took place last Saturday and Sunday – a week after the wine walk – in the underground maze of the Crystal City Shops. Both “Beer Walk” and “Wine Walk” are pretty self-explanatory.

After you sign in and show ID, you pick up your race number, t-shirt, glass, and drink tickets. With twenty tickets and generous pours, a $20-$35 ticket (depending on the day/time of the heat you sign up for) will get you feeling pretty good – especially if it’s only 2pm when you start, like it was for me.

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The Daily Feed
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Does riding Metro count as my exercise for the day?

Photo courtesy of
‘The working escalator’
courtesy of ‘ianseanlivingston’

It’s no surprise that there’s a correlation between rates of people driving to work and higher rates of obesity, but GOOD has created a fun new graphic that shows it in an interesting way.  This map of the US shows rates of walking, biking, and taking transit to work alongside obesity rates.  Since DC is compared to more spread out states, we obviously come in first place in the walking/biking/transit commute rates, and we’re third lowest (behind super-active Colorado and Connecticut) in statewide obesity rates.

The typical caveat applies here: when DC is compared to states the results should be taken with a grain of salt.  Virtually any dense city would beat out  statewide averages in terms of rates of taking non-motorized transportation to work.  And we shouldn’t pat ourselves on the back too much– there’s still a lot of work to be done to reduce obesity in DC.  While overall the District may be considered healthy and active, the obesity rates in Wards 7 and 8 are nearly double the District average (and much worse than the national average).

But still, next time you’re stuck walking up a broken Metro escalator, remind yourself that it’s keeping you fit!

The Daily Feed
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Top Five Ways to Get Killed After a Craptacular Snow Storm

Snowy Bike

  1. Walk in the street.
  2. Walk in the street two abreast.
  3. Drive too fast on slick roads.
  4. Ride your bike like a jackass in these conditions.
  5. Cross the street against the light.

Let’s be careful out there, folks. Safety is a shared responsibility. I have seen blatantly stupid behavior out there. If you are driving, slow down and accept that traveling will take a little longer for a while. If you are walking, be smart. Walk against traffic, on the sidewalk if you can, and single file. If you are biking, simply try your darndest to follow traffic rules. Those cars you are used to barely not hitting you are going to have a harder time braking in the slush and snow, so don’t bike like a d-bag.

Snowy Bike by dmolsen.

‘2010:41′
courtesy of ‘::FiZ::’
The Daily Feed
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Snowbank Blocking Pedestrian Crossing

Plowed snowbank blocking pedestrian crossing in Clarendon

Some snow plow operation in Arlington has seen fit to pile this massive snowbank right on top of a pedestrian crossing outside Clarendon Metro, forcing walkers to walk around it, on the road, dodging ice and skidding cars to get across Wilson Blvd. Hey, Arlington, I know it’s hard to figure out where to put all this snow, but if you’re trying to encourage walkability in the county, you’re doing it wrong.

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Talkin' Transit, The Daily Feed, The District
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DC Pedestrian Master Plan Meeting

The DC Pedestrian Master Plan is a long-term project to study and actively improve Washington’s state of walkability and pedestrian safety. The final draft of the plan report is up for review, and Ward 6 Councilor Tommy Wells is holding an open meeting with DC DDOT to invite public comment on Tuesday, July 8th, 6:30PM at St. Peter’s Church.

More info: Tommy Wells – Ward 6 Meeting on DC Pedestrian Master Plan.

Legacy articles, The Daily Feed
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No Pity for Exurb Mailbox Experiences

On Saturday, as I sat on the front porch of my Nairobi house numbered home, I greeted my neighbourhood mailman.

With a smile and a stack of bills, he climbed the stairs to my stoop and we had a moment of laughter around mail mis-sent to my place instead of forwarded to the previous owners. This little moment is one of the many reasons I love me some Petworth.

And the convenience of home mail delivery is yet another reason why I wonder about the mental capacity of folks who move way out to random suburbia. Take this weekend’s WashPost article “You’ve Got Mail . . . a Block Away” with the choice quote:

“This house is our dream. It’s got everything — all the bells and whistles,” Hamilton said. But, he added, “you deserve to have a nice mailbox in front of your house. I don’t think that those cluster boxes are pleasing to the eye.”

Sitting on her front porch, staring ruefully at her freshly planted garden of shrubs and flowers, Hall said she did not find out that the subdivision would have only communal mail delivery until after she moved into her $525,000 home.

And I can’t take a moment to mourn either people. They are the ones who moved out to the edge of existence, trading sensible population density for exurb sprawl. They are the ones who think new subdivisions sprouting up in farmland, serviced by long drives in SUV’s, are a good thing.

To the city-dwelling rest of us, this photograph from the article perfectly captures our feelings on the matter: let them walk!

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs