Saturday, March 21, 2009

Denver – The City of Healthy People

So today I decided to head on over to Washington Park to meet up with some friends, for those of you that do not know, Washington Park is one of the largest parks in Denver. At this park it was packed to the brim for a wonderful afternoon in March for volleyball, running, biking, working out, walking, eating, hanging out, and a whole variety of other activities. It was truly amazing to see so many Denver residents out and about on such a beautiful day.

However, what I saw in Washington Park is the norm here in Colorado. I believe it was named one of the most fit and in shape populations in the country and rightly so. With the weather here, and it has been a mild winter I understand, there is no reason not to be outside, although there is something here that I have not seen anywhere else that I have traveled – people outside exercising. This phenomenon of mass amounts of people outside and exercising is incredible. You can’t sit on any street in Denver and not see a few people running by and then many more biking by all within a matter of minutes. But it is not just one lone individual out exercising, often times they come in pairs, threes or even fours. This city is unlike any other, they want to be outside, they are outside, and they enjoy it. Not only the exercise though, the menus at restaurants feature some very healthy food and everyone that I have come into contact with also eats really healthy and they drink the most water out of anywhere that I know (part of that is the altitude, but another is their active lifestyles). People here are healthy, excited about where they live, and all in all I would have to say that based on what I have seen so far, Denver is the city of healthy people.