National Walking Day: A Very Local Challenge

Echo Park, Silver Lake, and Los Feliz residents enjoy a slew of pedestrian options.

We walk our dogs and our children to school. We walk to the Farmers Market orTrader Joe's. We walk around Echo Park Lake or the Reservoir. We walk home at night after enjoying a meal or a drink on Sunset Boulevard.

But, we're still likely to hop into our cars for a nearby errand anyway--that's even though both Echo Park and Silver Lake were ranked as "Very Walkable" neighborhoods by Walkscore.com.

Now, Los Angeles Magazine offers this challenge, to note National Walking Day, Wednesday, April 3: 

Make it a rule not to drive anywhere within two miles of your house.

Writer Alissa Walker took the plunge and found she had more time to read and didn't have to squeeze in traditional workouts.

She's also lost ten pounds in a year, though, admittedly, she's thrown some biking into the mix as well.

Click through to read more about the Bettter Off Ped Challenge.

You can also use the #BetterOffPed hashtag to connect with people on Twitter.