Indoor walking in Louisville (St. Matthews: house, safe area, live in)

[couture57]

Does anyone know of a good place to exercise walk indoors? I am getting back into walking for exercise after a few years of being sedentary. I used to walk at Mall St. Matthews during the cold months. They opened their doors at 7:00am for walkers. I loved walking there. A round trip is exactly 1 mile. But I've checked their website and other places, and they don't seem to be doing that anymore. I can't walk a mall when the stores are open - too many shoppers and I can't keep up a steady pace.

I live in Crescent Hill but would go anywhere in Metro Louisville.

Thanks in advance for any help.

[cubedeathk]

The pedway used to be a nice option but they severed it across Market. Still you can get in some distance starting on the left side of the galt house then doing the two branches to the south, in which a lap or two around the convention center is quite a long walk and to the stadium. I believe sometimes you can actually get into the stadium, but it's often not accessible. The south branch is a lot shorter but you can walk from the convention center south to Fourth street live then across to the other side of Fourth Street. Unfortunately the Embassy pedway isn't open to the public. This one's not very long though, not counting walking around the convention center. Outside of the lunch hour it's mostly empty.


Removing the pedway over Market was a mistake IMO. There was always to a ton of people getting some exercise on their lunch break during lunch and they lost the connectivity between the Galt House and the Convention Center, which seemed dumb.



Other than that though I can't really think of any long stretches indoors where I've ever seen indoor walkers walking purely for exercise. I'm sure no one at the Mellwood arts center and antique mall would mind people walking for exercise but I've never seen anyone there for that purpose. That's a pretty decent size.

[Peter1948]

Originally Posted by cubedeathk

The pedway used to be a nice option but they severed it across Market. Still you can get in some distance starting on the left side of the galt house then doing the two branches to the south, in which a lap or two around the convention center is quite a long walk and to the stadium. I believe sometimes you can actually get into the stadium, but it's often not accessible. The south branch is a lot shorter but you can walk from the convention center south to Fourth street live then across to the other side of Fourth Street. Unfortunately the Embassy pedway isn't open to the public. This one's not very long though, not counting walking around the convention center. Outside of the lunch hour it's mostly empty.


Removing the pedway over Market was a mistake IMO. There was always to a ton of people getting some exercise on their lunch break during lunch and they lost the connectivity between the Galt House and the Convention Center, which seemed dumb.



Other than that though I can't really think of any long stretches indoors where I've ever seen indoor walkers walking purely for exercise. I'm sure no one at the Mellwood arts center and antique mall would mind people walking for exercise but I've never seen anyone there for that purpose. That's a pretty decent size.

Most indoor walkers in Louisville are either at a Y (many have indoor tracks) or the malls or big box stores.

St Matthews Mall sees tons of walkers during weekday afternoons, almost always moms with strollers It's layout is long and stretched out and very conducive to this. You will probably meet other moms there too as many are clearly there to speed walk, not shop.

[couture57]

Thanks for the advice from both of you. Cubedeathk, I will definitely look into walking downtown. Sounds like there are a lot of options of various distances, which would be perfect for me. I had major spine surgery (actually 2 surgeries 3 days apart) in 2016, and I never did the amount of walking the doctors wanted me to do. They tell me it's not too late to get started. But in addition to a weak back, I am 70 lbs overweight and have been pretty sedentary, so it's going to take a while to work up to a decent distance. Before it got cold, I was walking occasionally just up and down my street. The maximum distance I could handle was half a mile.

Peter1948, to be honest, I never tried walking the mall when the stores were open. I walk a lot faster than shoppers, and I always thought they would get in my way. It's probably too crowded now during the holiday season, but I will definitely give it a try after New Years.

Thanks again!

[Peter1948]

Originally Posted by couture57

Thanks for the advice from both of you. Cubedeathk, I will definitely look into walking downtown. Sounds like there are a lot of options of various distances, which would be perfect for me. I had major spine surgery (actually 2 surgeries 3 days apart) in 2016, and I never did the amount of walking the doctors wanted me to do. They tell me it's not too late to get started. But in addition to a weak back, I am 70 lbs overweight and have been pretty sedentary, so it's going to take a while to work up to a decent distance. Before it got cold, I was walking occasionally just up and down my street. The maximum distance I could handle was half a mile.

Peter1948, to be honest, I never tried walking the mall when the stores were open. I walk a lot faster than shoppers, and I always thought they would get in my way. It's probably too crowded now during the holiday season, but I will definitely give it a try after New Years.

Thanks again!

By mid Janurary during weekdays, the malls are vacant and great places to walk.

Downtown is a really neat and safe area to walk. I especially enjot the circle of main and market. Start on east main at the curve by Stock Yards Bank, walk west to 9th street, then head south on 9th to market and head back east and end in Nulu. That is a nice several mile walk, and lots of interesting things to see on the way!