Kevin Cox- New Balance Walking Shoes and Polar Cleats

"I had to buy these Polar Cleats," says inveterate walker Kevin Cox, "to walk back and forth to work because the City does not enforce the law requiring sidewalks to be shoveled after a big snowstorm."

Cox– a lab technician in UVA's biochemistry department– walks every day from his home in Woolen Mills to the Grounds along East Market Street and West Main. The worst stretch on the 2.5-mile journey is the long hill on East Market, he says. But West Main can also be a hazard around the train station.

Cox got his Polar Cleats online for about $25, but he thinks they're also available at Plow & Hearth for those who want to join him in the healthful practice of pedestrian commuting.

"You can even run on ice," Cox says, demonstrating his stride on the remnants of the December 15 ice storm on the Downtown Mall. But what he likes best about the cleats is they allow him to snub his nose at scofflaw sidewalk owners.

Kevin Cox
PHOTO BY HAWES SPENCER