And, just for the record, I think that running & using a stairmaster are exercise forms that MUST have been thought up by orthopedic surgeons, because they are so damaging to the body & those who do these things often find themselves under the knife of the orthopedists. Many people greatly exaggerate the health benefits of exercise, but such benefits as there are can be found in 30 minutes of moderate walking or swimming some laps, with a lot less stress & joint damage. I think I have finally outgrown the need to see how long & hard I can exercise just so that I can ‘prove’ something or make an impression on someone else.

@beta – First, I am all for using personal energies to avoid using up the resources on our earth. However, fossil fuels don’t really power escalators since they run on electric motors (unless electricity is a fossil fuel and I somehow missed that?). Second, simply “Choosing” not to WANT to expend energy and wishing that the world would catch up to the current century to accommodate all levels of ability in accessing said world is not merely my means of saying “I’m LAZY! I don’t want to EXERCISE my LEGS!” (See part about wanting to use energy for OTHER activities) like some spoiled and privileged little fat girl. When this world does not accommodate the people in it then hells yes I think it should be re-engineered. Claiming that the world of stairs as we know it is not denying vast numbers of people access and instead arguing that I “just don’t want to be short of breathe” is ignoring that while I might simply not LIKE going up or down a set of knee harming stairs; there are plenty of other people who don’t have that option.