As I walked into work the other day, my client asked me if I had seen the front page of the paper. When I told her no she informed me that Indianapolis once again ranked dead last in a list of America's Most Fit Cities. As I was disappointed, I can't say that I am all that surprised, as we had the same infamous title last year and quite possibly in other years as well. At first thought it confused me as I am around people being active all day and who are consciously trying to improve their health. So, I guess I am a little jaded by that, as it clearly isn't the "norm" of our beloved city.

On paper, Indy seems like it wouldn't have such a demeaning title. We have the largest half marathon in the country boasting over 45,000 participants. We have miles of greenways such as the Monon Trail and the Central Canal, bike lanes on most major streets, and a successful bike share system. We have awesome inner city parks such as Eagle Creek and Fort Ben that offer an array of activities for all fitness levels. We have an awesome walkable downtown that has been recognized nationally and was a large part of the reason that we were able to host the Super Bowl a few years ago. We are international home to the prestigious American College of Sports Medicine. Every weekend there are at least a half a dozen 5K walk/runs. Just to name a few. . . .

So, why the lag? The article states that the lower end cities do not have the same access to parks and outdoor activities as higher ranked cities. They also cited a strong public transportation as it contributes to more walking and standing which, in my opinion, we do not have at the moment. Smoking rates and obesity were also factors on the list. And we can't discount the plethora of junk food restaurants peppered all over our city (but is it really that much more than most others?).

I will start by saying that YES I agree that getting out for a run/bike ride/hike most likely will take a much more concerted effort in Indy than the top ranked. In doing so, it usually requires you to plan ahead, drive to an area where it is safe and easy to do so, etc. And I literally know only one person (personally) that rides his bike to work year round, probably because our weather is so variable that the vast majority of people don't want to deal with the hassle of doing so, let alone getting cleaned up after the fact due to the lack of facilities in most workplaces. I read a statistic that 95% of the Washington D.C. population live within a 10 minute walk to a park. In Indianapolis it is 31% (and I was actually surprised to read it was that high.

And many of you active folks may be scratching your head as on any half way decent day the Monon looks as busy as I-69 as rush hour. But, I urge you to look around. . . you will likely see the same faces day after day. I feel that the people of this city are either all in as in being active most days of the week or all out, as in being pretty much sedentary. And the former is far less than the latter bringing our national average to be so low.

Being active and eating better is possible for just about everybody. It just takes a little more effort depending on where one lives. The basic idea is that if a city makes it so easy to be active that it is almost a "no-brainer" it is much more healthy than a city that makes it extra work to get moving. Hoosiers! Let's take so much advantage of our options that it will force the city to follow suit so that we can move up this list and look better in the eyes of the rest of the country.