Fit to Print team updates 6/27/02

The Fit to Print team earned 833 points for a per person average of 83.3 points.

Our competitors seemed to be edging a little higher each week. St. Andrew's Fit for Eternity, which leads the not-for-profit division, earned 968 points last week. Cape Public Library's Bookin' Team finished the week with 337 points.

St. Andrew: 968 points; 107.55 per person

Cape Library: 337 points; 48.14 per person

Fit to Print reports:SAM BLACKWELL

When we started Shape Up Cape more than six weeks ago, accumulating the maximum points possible in a week -- 140 -- seemed like the impossible dream. The Fit to Print team, paunchy Sancho Panzas in need of a Don Quixote, gave ourselves a goal of 10 points each per day. That would be enough, we thought, a good effort.

And it was at first, but it also was a way of limiting ourselves. As we do indeed shape up, the positive effects become an incentive to do more.

This week, I set out to see what was possible. That required a commitment of more energy and time. That meant less time on the couch. That wasn't a bad thing.

Perfection was not attained this week but was close enough to know that the goal -- not getting points but getting in shape -- is possible. SPENCER CRAMER

A pretty blah couple of weeks. Kept up the exercise, but made no particular breakthroughs, except for noticing that my yoga sessions seem to fly by faster than they used to.

Tip No. 3 for avoiding treadmill boredom: Pay attention. There are many ways to do this. When I'm walking at top speed, it takes between nine and 10 steps for the next LED light on the track to light up. This takes approximately four seconds. There are about 1,920 steps in a mile. The track under me takes slightly under four steps to cover, and it takes about eight times for the track to cycle around to the position I started in.

I know this sounds like Principal Skinner's admonition to Bart Simpson: "Make a game of it. See how many envelopes you can lick in an hour, and then try to break that record." But it works.HEIDI HALL

Two weeks ago, for the first time, I knew Shape Up Cape was making a difference.

I have roughly $100 worth of clothes I've bought at bargain basement prices that were a size or two too small, the idea being they were cheap and I'd need them when I lost 20 pounds or so.

Not one piece of that clothing had seen the light of day before Friday, June 14. That morning, I slipped into a denim skirt that had been one size too small. When I tried it on at the store, it looked like a sausage casing. I couldn't breathe.

Then, just last week, when a player on our softball team got hit in the head, I ran to the concession stand for ice. Ran, I tell you!

Until that moment, I believed the only thing that would make me run would be a pack of wild dogs right behind me.GABE HARTWIG

Shape Up Cape has made me lazy.

When I began this program, I was pretty gung ho about building up the endurance to run 4.8 miles nonstop three days a week.

And I did -- for a while. I was all the way to the point where I could run without making horrible gasping sounds.

But since the realization that walking and running are worth the same number of coveted Shape Up Cape points, I have taken the easy way out. I've been running 20 minutes and walking the rest of the way.

But no more.

Points are all well and good, but it's time once again to focus on my no-gut-by-Labor-Day goal.

From now on, I'll be running those 4.8 miles. All of 'em.LAURA JOHNSTON

Since Shape Up Cape began, I've been waiting for the day when my scale would read a few pounds lighter than the week before.

It finally happened.

I dropped five pounds since May 11. There's nothing better than slipping easily into an outfit that was once too tight to wear. And that's been my greatest reward so far in the program.

But with each reward comes hard work, and getting fit is a little harder than I expected. I'm getting bored with my walking, although I've found several new routes around the university campus and into downtown. I've added a few new activities to my workouts -- I finally got to the pool for a fitness swim -- but I'm not really sure I can keep this up, especially during those hot, humid months still to come. Swimming could be by refuge at 10 points for 20 minutes of laps.