Durham, NC - Three weeks into the Get Moving Challenge, some Duke employees are making it clear that "FIT Happens."

Five staff members on the "FIT Happens" team representing Duke's Non Invasive Vascular Laboratory finished first in two categories during round one of the team-based health competition. The team took an average of slightly more than 365,000 steps while also logging an average of about 1,100 minutes of exercise during the initial two-week period.

Team leader Mitch VanBruggen led all Get Moving Challenge participants in steps with more than 613,000. VanBruggen, an exercise physiologist in the Duke Center for Living, is running about 100 miles a week to train for the Boston Marathon. His teammate Joshua West finished second with about 558,500 steps.

"All of us on the team exercise quite a bit, but it's been fun to track our progress and give each other a hard time if we think our teammates aren't pulling their weight," VanBruggen said "The Get Moving Challenge gives us a little extra motivation to walk to spots around our facility at Finch-Yeager or take a few extra minutes to get a walk in during lunch."

The Get Moving Challenge competition has 2,759 total participants and 283 teams of five to 11 faculty and staff. The competition, now in its fourth week, ends April 1.

Participants in Get Moving can report exercise minutes, steps taken or pounds lost as part of the challenge. While participants must log their information on the Get Moving website, they can use a paper tracking sheet to write down their progress and report it later. Get Moving competitors have until Feb. 26 to log data for the current round of the challenge.

Team and individual standings can be viewed online and are updated each day.

At the end of each two-week round, the standings will be announced in an email to all participants and posted online. At the end of the competition, all participants whot track progress at least eight out of 10 weeks will receive a Get Moving Challenge T-shirt. The top teams in each category will receive a trophy to display for bragging rights. Trophy winners will be announced at the 2012 Start! Walk the first week of April.

For a full list of frequently asked questions about the Get Moving Challenge, visit the Get Moving website.