Good news: Texas isn’t among the 10 fattest states in the country. Not sure where we rank, but thank goodness we’re nowhere near Mississippi which leads the U.S. in illiteracy and obesity. Believe it or not, nearly 1/3 of all adults in Mississippi are obese and nearly 45 percent of its children are also overweight.

Texans can’t be too smug about all this. Dallas, Houston and San Antonio are all among the top 15 fattest cities in America. Austin probably isn’t too far behind.

All this despite the gridlock on Lady Bird Lake. And after a week spent in Houston and San Antonio, it’s hard to fathom that we’re more fat than fit. Houston’s Memorial Park and the run around the Rice campus is nearly as congested as the Lady Bird Trail  I ran around the River Walk in San Antonio the past two mornings and even though it wasn’t as crowded as Houston or in Austin, there were still plenty of runners and walkers.

But let’s face it: We’re the minority. We’re the weirdos. It might not seem like it—especially on the weekend—but there are way more folks sitting in front of their TVs or computers who do absolutely nothing in the way of exercise. Think about it. You run. You walk. You probably also ride a bike, play golf, swim or go to the gym.

If you’re at all like me, you’re probably always doing something. And hopefully, so are your kids.

But sadly, the vast majority of people in town (and evidently, Americans) do little or nothing in terms of exercise. Zip. Zilch. Nyet. Nada.

That’s pathetic. And we all suffer from this national epidemic of obesity as our health care costs have skyrocketed. (The health-care costs for an obese American are six times that of someone who is normal weight.)

Whenever I get on my high horse about exercise, I always think of a former neighbor of mine. Whenever I’d come back from a run—dripping wet and overdosing on endorphins—he’d look at me, shake his head and mumble something about how he wished he could do what I did.

“You can man,” I’d say.

His list of excuses was he was too old (he was younger than me), too fat, too busy, too tired etc. But my former neighbor was just too damn lazy to ever do anything but complain.

BTW: He died before his 50^th birthday.

1. Up in Coppell last weekend in the 105-degree blast furnace, Travis Russell of Hutto took two age-group titles in Texas Masters Track & Field Championships. Travis won the 1500 and 5000 within 45 minutes of each other.

2. If you’re even thinking of running the second San Antonio Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon (or half) on November 15^th, you’d better think about signing up for it soon. Lucy Diaz, the race director for the megarace, said the combined field will be capped at 30,000 and she expects to reach that number by mid-September. Last year, about 800 Austinites ran. My guesstimate is that will double this year, based on the enthusiasm for last year’s event. Diaz is also hoping to attract as many top Texan runners as possible who would be eligible for some of the prize money reserved for Texans.

3. Don’t forget to start your July 4^th holiday with the third running of the Freedom 5000 on Saturday. For the second year in a row, this little 5-K will be held at the Texas State School off 35^th. The race starts at 8 a.m.

4. Sarah Mark and Scott Kimball pulled off interesting doubles last weekend. Both won the mile in the Friday night all-comers meet at Texas School for the Deaf (Scott ran 4:15; Sarah cruised a 5:25). Then, on Saturday morning, they went up to Luling for the Watermelon Thump 5-K and won that too in remarkable times. Scott ran 12:10; Sarah nailed a 15:20 on a course that, baseball announcer Bob (Mr. Major League) Uecker might have said, was just a little short.

5. You only have a few more days to register early for the Moonlight Margarita Run on August 6^th. If you register before July 5^th, you can score a big savings on this fun evening race which is the main fundraiser for The Trail Foundation. The race has always been held on a Thursday night in steamy conditions (last year it was 102), but this could be the final year the Margarita Run is contested as an evening race. The new city restrictions on races will probably make a Thursday night race unfeasible in the near future. Anyway, go to the Trail Foundation (www.thetrailfoundation.org) to register.

6. What I’m listening to this morning: “The Red Headed Stranger” by Willie Nelson. Legend has it that Willie wrote this masterpiece one night by dictating the lyrics to his then wife one night on a drive from Denver to Austin.

7. Heard Around The Lake is on vacation for the next two weeks. Beach, beer, baseball and a few books is in order.

Have any juicy news for me? (It doesn’t have to be entirely true.) If you have something, send it to wish@runtex.com