To train for our 1,000 mile hike along the Camino de Santiago, mom and I have been adding long walks into our workout repertoire. They range from about 10 to 13 miles and take us to the far corner of Sacramento - along railroad tracks, over levees, across bridges, through parks, down the cobblestone streets of Old Sac and past endless streets of houses, from cozy craftsman cottages to artsy urban lofts to regal Victorians. However, now that the rains have come, our schedule has been a bit thrown off. Now before you judge, it's not that mom and I haven't walked in the rain before. I spent a great deal of the Coast-to-Coast hike across England eating rain-soaked sandwiches in the moors with muddy gators strapped around my ankles. I know rain. We have met. Yet, that doesn't mean I would volunteer to walk through it if I didn't have to. Which is why yesterday, when mom suggested we try mall walking for the first time, I thought, 'Why the heck not? Count me in.'
When we arrived at Arden Fair at 7am, the mall had already been open to mall walkers for an hour. Yup, 6am! Guess those must be the Extreme Walkers. Just opening the doors to the mall when all the stores, themselves, were closed sent a thrill of excitement through me... like the time a group of friends and I spent the night in the Psychology Building of Sac State after breaking into the swimming pool... but that's another story.
When we got inside, I expected to see a flurry of canes and metal walkers with halved tennis balls on the bottom of the legs, but actually, these blue hairs are pretty spritely and swift. One woman had this whole zigzag technique, weaving in and out of the kiosks that dot the aisles of the mall. She looked like a human pin ball, only one wearing an extremely tacky Christmas sweater. I will say, however, that mom and I were definitely walking the fastest. If the other walkers were vehicles on a highway, we were race cars at the Indy 500. The best part of the whole deal is the window shopping. Man, there is this jacket at Forever 21 that would look great with my NYE dress... Once the stores actually opened, we couldn't help but pop inside to check out sales. There's nothing like shopping when the clothes are still organized and folded, the employees are still cheerful and there's no one else around. It's what I imagine heaven to look like should it exist - my experience at the same mall only days ago as I struggled for half an hour to get out of a parking lot filled with crazed holiday shoppers being my image of the fiery depths of hell... should it exist.
The only downfall to mall walking - the Food Court. Cinnabon and its magical cinnamon/sugar aroma nearly undid my entire 5-mile walk. I resisted though. Mom almost got sucked into the Pretzel Shop, herself, until we saw the employee sneeze, covering her mouth but not her nose, which hovered over a vat of bubbling butter. Starbucks did get us, though, but when you're mall walking like a bat out of hell, you need some fuel, dang it! All-in-all, a good rain-free time. Think I'll wait until after the holidays though to go back and get that jacket... I'll leave you with my favorite quotes from Wikipedia's 'Mall Walking' entry...
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