I don't want to re-post copywrited material, but I think many will find this post on the New York Times Health Blog and the subsequent discussion interesting.

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/01/11/when-fitness-means-life-or-death/

Real world physical and mental fitness should be a big part of being equipped to survive, be it in the urban jungle or out in the wilderness.

As I recently witnessed, many people have all the latest, lightest razzle dazzle gear to equip a company of boy scouts yet cannot carry a 20 - 30 lb pack for more then a mile or 2 on flat land without suffering a near physical meltdown. Yet these same people can run like a Gazelle on the gym treadmill for an hour straight...

" Yet these same people can run like a Gazelle on the gym treadmill for an hour straight..."

Different muscles, different training.

I suspect that irrational behavior in an emergency may come from the common 'it won't happen to me' syndrome. And materialism is rampant in America -- you're nothing without your toys.

Sue