36 out of 50

Friday’s walk was along the Canal in White River State Park downtown.  I had walked a bit of it before when I visited the Eiteljorg Museum earlier in the month.  This time I went the other direction, walking through pods of school groupseating lunch outside of the State Museum, admiring various sculptures, smiling to myself at a family taking time to count turtles in the canal and finally turning around on the path that went behind the Indianapolis Zoo.  This was about noon and one thing that struck me was the sheer number of 1) joggers, single and in pairs, and 2) people who seemed to be walking the path on their lunch break from work.  I also began to recall my time on the Monon Trail this month with the hoards of joggers/bikers/walkers that I’ve seen out both in the evenings and around lunchtime. 

I was reminded of an article I read on the stair climber on Thursday.  In summary, it stated that of the 50 most populous metro cities in the U.S., Indianapolis ranked #36 in fitness…rather low.  It is not surprising when you look at the state rankings; Indiana ranks 9th “fattest”(tied with Michigan and Oklahoma).  I don’t find myself in the position to question the validity of the findings, but as I have been dodging people who seem to care about their fitness all month, I was a bit surprised.  If the trails of Indianapolis are heavily populated at many different times of day, I could only imagine how busy trails and parks in, say, Washington D.C. must be.  So where’s the difference in ranking?    Maybe the difference does not lie in those who I have seen out on the trails, but those who stay indoors.  So it must be that couch potatoes in D.C. are healthier, in general, than those in Indianapolis.  Hmmm… this may be yet another characteristic I don’t think I will ever share with my fellow Hoosiers.