The Nation's Capital also the Nation's Fittest?

So I've been on a health kick lately (hard to believe, I know) and I decided to go for a nice jog on one of our local trails in suburban D.C. It was such a beautiful night and a perfect time of day to go running and it seemed everyone agreed with me because dozens of people were out on the trail as well. While I was running, I was reminded of a report on WJFK, a local talk radio station, that Washington D.C. was recently named the fittest city in America. Can that really be? My experience was telling me it was but from what I have witnessed at times I had my doubts.



In my six months of observation, I have noticed a lot of people who dedicate a lot of time to fitness. Be it yoga, running, biking, lifting, etc. it seems a lot of people make time to work out during their day. On the other hand, I have seen a lot of fatties out roaming the streets too. Maybe all the fatties are tourists, I don't know but it seems to me that in order to be the number one fittest city in the nation, I should be seeing a lot more people out there losing some weight.

Some of the factors included: smoking (we've got a lot of them), obesity (see above), eat five servings daily of fruit and vegetables (how do you calculate that) and a number of local resources. The local resources I can see: Washington has tons of parks, miles of trails for jogging and biking, lots of farmer's markets serving fresh food, and lots of doctors as well. Crime was also a determinant and I'm pretty sure our crime record is less than spectacular.

Taking a look at the rest of the list, I see: Twin Cities (#2), Boston (#4), Virginia Beach (#10), Cincinnati (#14), Pittsburgh (#16), Milwaukee (#17), Buffalo (#18), and Baltimore (#19). Are you kidding me? I have been to all of these cities and fit is not a word that I would use with any of them. What do you think? What cities would you put as the most fit?