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Food & Drink

Fast Food and Fitness

Chipotle has done an excellent job of marketing itself as a healthy eating option. Now comes a month-long exercise challenge with the promise of free food for an entire city.

By Rob Smith January 6, 2025

A person holding a smartphone with a Strava cycling route map is in focus, blending the world of fitness and technology. In the background, on the table, a bowl of fast food contrasts with the health-conscious screen, painting a picture of balancing lifestyle choices.
Photo by Strava

On TikTok, a guy named Dillon Wareham got lots of attention for documenting his journey while eating at Chipotle for 1,000 consecutive days. Others also began posting that they too ate at the fast-food chain on a daily basis. My 15-year-old is somehow under the illusion that Chipotle qualifies as “health food” and would do the same — if I let him.

Now, the Newport, Calif.-based chain — it operates nine locations across Seattle and 3,500 in the United States — has launched an initiative with social fitness platform Strava called “The Chipotle x Strava City Challenge.” Participants can run, bike or walk designated “Chipotle segments,” or parts of roads and trails identified by Strava, a company that allows users to track and share their physical activities.

The winner in each of the 25 participating cities in North America and Europe — including Seattle — wins a variety of Chipotle rewards, with the ultimate prize being a free Chipotle lifestyle bowl for a year. (The company says the bowls are Keto and grain and gluten free, and they come with supergreens). Plus, every resident in the city with the highest collective mileage on its segments wins a buy-one-get-one free entrée.

And guess who’s among the leaders of this, uh, “fitness” challenge? Yes, Seattle. The challenge began last week and runs through Jan. 31. Seattle ranks No. 3, with 109.22 miles, behind only Los Angeles and San Francisco.

The cities’ progress will be tracked on the “Chipotle x Strava: The City Challenge” heatmap, a leaderboard showing daily updates of each city’s performance. Through Jan. 9, fans can visit chipotle.com/lsb-text to join the “Goals, Gym, Guac” text message community. Throughout January, Chipotle will share exclusive content from creators, motivational texts and affirmations. On Jan. 10 (No Quitters Day), members will receive texts with instructions to get one of 50,000 free lifestyle bowls.

I’m surely not the only one who’s amused by this combination of fast food and fitness. And don’t get me wrong: Anything that promotes exercise is beneficial. Chipotle has done a masterful job of marketing itself as a healthy restaurant (yes, it may be healthier than, say, McDonald’s or Taco Bell, but still). This promotion will only bolster that.

Now, if I can just control my son’s Chipotle addiction (in all fairness, his buddies eat there too). Maybe I shouldn’t have given him all those gift cards at Christmas.

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