Curious if groups like People Who Run Downtown, an an after work group for runners and walkers that met on Tuesdays, is still around. I took part in a number of the after work runs in the '80s that socialized afterward at a different bar each Tuesday.

In winter, People Who Run Downtown had access to Cobo Center. Is Cobo still available for runner and walkers in winter?

What brought this to mind was discussions about physical fitness and weight management in which I have suggested that people not up for running form informal "walking teams." But instead of meeting once a week, walking teams would meet any day of the week that two or more people showed up.

The goal would be to walk for one hour without stopping. Walk for 30 minutes and then head back to a bar or restaurant or someone's home. Part of my idea about walking teams was inspired by a woman I know in Colorado Springs that walks four miles every day in an hour after work, year around. Man, I said to her. In that altitude, in that weather--that's dedicated.

I said to her that it would take some peer pressure, like that of a walking team, for me to show up three to five times a week to walk that much.