By MARY CHILDRESS
DAILY MAIL STAFF

Forget about uneven sidewalks or a pricey gym. Kenneth Maston, 87, has found a safe and protected place to walk for free.

He’s a regular at the Charleston Town Center, where a devoted number of people go to walk laps before the stores open.

It was heart surgery 16 years ago that got Maston moving.

“The doctor suggested that I get some exercise, and I’ve been doing this ever since. I try to get here three days a week,” he said.

While he now walks with a cane and doesn’t move as fast as he used to, Maston still makes the circuit around the mall’s interior at least once and sometimes more.

“It really depends on how my legs feel,” said the retired Union Carbide employee.

Maston’s wife, Pauline, 84, and their friend and neighbor Ann Michael, 82, also walk at the mall. The three live in the Mink Shoals area of Kanawha County.

“Ann and I have been walking together since 1987, I think,” said Pauline. “We also do the Lawrence Frankel exercise classes a couple of days a week and volunteer at CAMC.

“We used to do two or three rounds on the second floor of the mall and then the same on the lower level,” Pauline said. “Now since we’ve gotten older, we don’t walk as much. But it’s so much fun to walk and talk with the others here.”

Those who walk the mall’s indoor perimeter, including the alcoves, will rack up about a mile per round.

“We’ve had walkers here since 1985,” said Charleston Town Center marketing director Lisa McCracken. “When we first invited walkers to enjoy the mall, the program was initially sponsored by St. Francis Hospital. That changed to CAMC through the years, and now it’s back to St. Francis.

“They sponsor a special program the third Tuesday of every month where the walkers are invited to Center Court to enjoy coffee from Starbucks and hear guest speakers,” she said. “They’ve heard from area physicians, fitness experts, nutrition consultants and other health-care professionals. It’s been a great program for our walkers.”

The mall walkers feel they have a stake in Town Center and have notified security when something seems amiss.

“They’ve really been alert to things that might be different,” McCracken said. “Since some of them are here every day, they tend to notice when things are out of place.”

Walkers usually arrive between 7 and 10 a.m., seven days a week.

“They usually come in waves. There will be a few walkers here bright and early just before 7 a.m. Then another group might come in about 8 or 8:30 a.m., and then the last bunch arrives for a walk before the stores open,” McCracken said.

“Some will eat breakfast or have coffee, then proceed out and about the mall while some of the other walkers will start their rounds and then finish off the morning with coffee and a muffin or sweet roll from one of our food merchants,” she said.

“These walkers feel safe, secure here,” she added. “They’re protected from the elements, and getting here so early in the morning, they can pull right up to the door and start walking.

“In addition to the walkers here who belong to an older generation, we see lots of office workers start their day here, walking around the mall before going to work.”

For Dick Hunt, 75, a goal of losing weight got him up and walking.

“I haven’t been doing this very long — just around nine months,” he said while walking with his daughter-in-law, Lynn. “She’s helping me.”

The two come four days a week and usually walk twice around the mall.

“We’ve even managed to pass a couple of walkers on our rounds,” he added with a smile.

Billy Ray, 72, and Woody Cox, 71, are regulars. Ray drives into town from his home in Kenna four or five days a week.

“I walk for 30 minutes,” he said. “I’ve had some health problems, surgeries and so on, but the walking really helps me feel better.”

Cox used to weigh 200 pounds and have a 41-inch waist. In the 1970s he decided to tackle his weight. It took him six months to lose 53 pounds and take 9 inches off his waist.

“‘Course, I was jogging then,” he said. “That was back in 1970 or ’71, I think. I had young children and I wanted to get in shape so I could keep up with them.”

He used to walk Kanawha Boulevard every day but has moved into the mall in recent years.

“I try to walk an hour every morning, five days a week,” Cox said.

“I used to walk two hours, but my left knee just gives out on me every so often.”

Whether they walk two days a week or five, the men say they have met some really nice people walking.

“It’s like a family,” said Cox.