This city was made for walking

Talk about your inexplicable magazine lists: Houston has ranked No. 42 on Prevention magazine's list of America's top 100 walking cities. Huh?

Prevention and the American Podiatric Medical Association recognize the country's most walker-friendly cities each year using a formula based on the percentage of adults who walk for exercise, the percentage of residents who walk to work, percentage of adults who participate in sports and/or ride public transit, the number of parks and walking trails, the crime rate and the climate. And Houston still came in ahead of D.C., Chicago, Miami and San Antonio. True, Houston does have a lot of parks and an active population — despite our place near the top of the fattest cities list — but in terms of public transportation and climate, well, we're not excactly a paradise. Houstonist knows a lot of people go to Memorial Park every day, but we didn't know they were there to walk.

Portland, Ore., came in at No. 1 on the walking cities list, with its relatively mild climate, eco-friendly attitude and abundance of outdoor activity. Austin was the highest-ranking Texas city, coming in at No. 6 because of its high student population, vibrant downtown and the popularity of biking there. San Antonio ranked 46th, Dallas 61st (two spots behind Detroit!), El Paso 85th, Fort Worth 90th, Lubbock 91st and Laredo 99th. Bringing up the bottom of the list was Oklahoma City, where we assume no one walks.