As soon as I write “Picture Main Street” here, I’ll hasten to say this is not an opinion piece about whether or not widening sidewalks, reducing the number of automobile lanes in downtown Northampton from four and a half to three, and adding more bike lanes is a good idea. I appreciate concerns from downtown businesses about losing sales because getting around town may be difficult during the remodeling. I also think narrowing Main Street ultimately won’t make the traffic more congested, and the result may look as nice as the pedestrian-friendly centers of Boulder, Colorado, and Burlington, Vermont.

But I’m not here to argue. Regardless of its eventual outcome, the discussion reminds me of the possibilities for getting to downtown Northampton on foot or by bicycle.

Not everyone, certainly. Those of us whose mobility is impaired, or cannot balance well enough to ride a bicycle, or deliver pizzas, or are shopping for large items they cannot carry home in a shopping bag or on a bike rack should all be able to drive downtown and find a place to park when we get there. But the rest of us? If we walk to town, or bike, or (yes) run, we’re leaving more parking spaces for others who need them, and our access to the city center is likely to be easier.

I know, I know. You live on Hatfield Street or Sylvester Road, and it’s several miles from your house to Main Street, and you’re going to work and cannot show up all sweaty because you pedaled or jogged to get there. Or it’s raining. Or snowing. Or dark. And you didn’t grow up in Kenya, where you ran eight miles to school every morning, or in Davis, California, where 22.1 percent of the population of 64,000 commutes to work on bicycles.

But that letter you need to send by express mail? What if, instead of driving to the post office, you ran there? Carry the letter inside a plastic bag so your perspiration doesn’t smear the ink on the envelope. Or if the only groceries you need are a quart of milk, a head of lettuce, two onions and eight bars of gourmet chocolate? You can fit those in saddle bags on a bike, or push them home in a baby jogger. Those baby joggers are handy, and if you have a baby to put into one, so much the better.

Forgive me if any of this seems too cute. I’m actually serious. Running an errand – literally – sometimes motivates me to get exercise when just plodding around the block seems too dull to contemplate. From my house to the nearest hardware store is a mile and a half; run there to buy the bolt I need to repair a fence, run home with the bolt, and I’ve done an errand and a three-mile workout. Downtown to pay my water bill? I know I can mail it, but I like going to the tax office in person, on foot. It’s a six-mile round trip. Excellent aerobic conditioning.

Run to work? Some workplaces have showers available for employees. Keep a change of clothes in your desk. Or pedal. Bike racks are nearly ubiquitous. Own a rainproof jacket. Equip your bike with splash guards – and for heaven’s sake with a headlamp and red taillight. You’ll be leaving one more parking space available for someone who really needs it.

Horrible weather? Climate change means we’re going to have to adapt to conditions we don’t like, so we might as well get started. One way to adapt running to this season’s hard snow and ice is to buy a pair of crampons. Another, recommended for years by winter-time trail runners, is to fasten short hexagonal-headed machine screws into the soles of your shoes, to serve as cleats. If you’re bicycling in this stuff, you want knobby tires. Hot weather? Wear the coolest pair of sunglasses you can find, dress lightly, and remember how much you complained about the cold in February.

This is not just about Northampton. Greenfield’s long-term plans call for something similar to Picture Main Street, probably starting by the end of this decade: narrow the driving surface, widen the sidewalks, change angled parking to parallel. The part about getting exercise while doing an errand applies equally. By the way, one of the best in-town hill workouts this side of Pittsburgh is the run up Greenfield’s Bank Row, from the railroad overpass to Main Street. Do it several times.

John Stifler has taught writing and economics at UMass and has written extensively for running magazines and newspapers. He can be reached at jstifler@umass.edu