Americans might have a reputation for being slow and fat, but the U.S. is home to many of the world’s greatest athletes.
And even if we aren’t all professional or Olympic athletes, we’ve got plenty of fit citizens, according to a recent Runner’s World data analysis of entries in RunKeeper, a running app.
RunKeeper tracks your route, speed, calorie burn and mileage — so their data was ideal for a state-by-state comparison of runners putting in work.
Runner’s World compared miles per capita, miles per run, number of runs and pace per mile. The state data is interesting (spoiler alert, Illinois isn’t a champ at running) but what really stands out is that different region of the U.S. seems to dominate in one category.
Runs per person: The West Coast and South really take this one. Those runners in Louisiana really logged a lot of workouts!
Mileage: The top corners of the country take this one. Alaskan runners don’t mess around, but neither do the Vermonters!
Pace: Midwesterners and New Englanders are fast, believe it or not. Wisconsin is the fastest in the flyover states, so we’d like to see some research on how cheese helps you get your pace up.
