Look around your city, there is probably a set of stairs you can use for an outdoor stair workout. At the high school stadium, a building or a connecting walk.

Around Cincinnati are stairs that used to be a major way people got around the city, connecting neighborhoods. They’re no longer used as a major of transportation but many are still in good shape thanks to volunteers maintaining them.

Map of Cincinnati stairs

One of my goals this year was to workout on one of the sets that had 100 or more steps. This photo is from the Fortview steps in Mt. Adams. I didn’t think it would be too hard to run up the stairs, but I probably got half way up and started to feel like I wasn’t going to make more than one time if I didn’t slow down. I ended up walking (not running) up and down three times.

With the weather changing and the leaves being down, it is hard to keep from feeling like I might slip on the leaves on the way down so this is something I’ll pick up again in the spring. It certainly feels different than the stair mill at the gym!