Sole Food
For my mental and physical well being, I try to get in some form of exercise in the middle of every day. Since workloads and lunchtime meetings often preclude a visit to the Y (formerly the YMCA, you know), I often find myself taking a walk around downtown.
The other day, I imagined making these jaunts if I weren’t downtown, at some office complex in an outlying area, or at a mall (where there’s lots of parking but no appealing landscape) and I realized how lucky I am to work where I do.
Walking around downtown I can: drop off my dry cleaning, get my clothes altered, buy cards for special occasions, make a deposit in a drive through ATM (sorry Wells Fargo), whiff the aroma of Cinnamon Toast Crunch, consult with an attorney (God forbid), get a haircut, enjoy lunch of Mexican, Asian, Spanish and greasy bar fare (there goes my walk’s health benefit), see friends, walk around a lake, stroll along a river, sit in a park and just be.
I will close (at the risk of sounding like a Dr. Seuss book) and make my point: walking around in downtown Cedar Rapids is not only productive, it’s fun. And it’s like no other place in our city.
For mind, body and soles.
Felicia Wyrick is a principal and Director of Public Relations at Adfinity Marketing Group. She is a Downtown District board member and Program Committee Chair.