Fit to Print team updates

Check other team standings at www.capechamber.com/team_standings.htmFit to Print

The Fit to Print team earned 934 points last week -- our best week so far. The competitors we've chosen from the Shape Up Cape entrants also fared well: St. Andrew's team earned 786 points while the Bookin' Team from the public library earned 436.

Sam Blackwell 108

Andrea Buchanan 68

Spencer Cramer 87

Jamie Hall 117

Heidi Hall 76

Gabe Hartwig 115

Laura Johnston 75

Heather Kronmueller 98

Bob Miller 96

Joe Sullivan 94

Total 934

Average per person: 93.4

Our competitors:

Cape Public Library: 436

Average per person: 62.28

St. Andrew Lutheran: 786

Average per person: 87.33Andrea Buchanan

Eternally perky fitness maven Denise Austin has joined Buffy on the list of people to slap senseless in my virtual kickboxing ring.

I'm back in Nevada, Mo., newly appointed editor at the daily paper here, but my Fit to Print teammates encouraged me stay on the team. Hey! Now the Cape Chamber of Commerce can boast that this contest has drawn interest from across the state.

I'm back in the hotel and looking for a place to live and since I slapped myself in the eye with the jump rope last week, I was looking for alternative exercises that could still be performed in doors, out of the rain. This led me to my new arch enemy, Barbie-look-alike Austin. She has a televised aerobics program that's shown here at o'dark hundred hours. My reasons for hating her are simple. She's up early and she just too darn friendly for me.

Fortunately, the weather cleared, and I'm back to walking and planning my virtual exercise tour.Jamie Hall

I've reached the fork in the road. I'm perplexed.

Do I really want the Lakers to win their fourth title or just want them to never win again?

Do I get the apple pie or peach cobbler for dessert?

Do I keep running five days a week like a maniac for huge piles of Shape Up Cape points or go back to balancing cardio and weightlifting for scant points that, no doubt, will draw the ire of my angered and disappointed teammates?

Ahhh, the choices. That cobbler would be good.

As for the weight training, I promised myself that I'd back off after this week. No more crazy 118-point weeks in which I insanely sweat and drag myself along the La Croix Trail during midday, Southeast Missouri swamp-like weather.

None of that craziness for me. No more 118-point splurges. It's back to a sane combination of weights and less-frequent runs.

And maybe a little cobbler.

Heather Kronmueller

Last week I found myself lacking any kind of motivation to exercise.

I tried to pull myself out of bed in the morning, but it was either 30 minutes of exercise or 30 more minutes of cozy sleep and I chose the latter every time.

That meant in order to get any points I had to exercise after work, but by the time I got home in the evening all I wanted to do was watch television, talk on the phone or read my Harry Potter book.

By mid-week I was ready to call it quits.

I thought all the exercise was in vain and that I would be better to just call it quits and go back to a life a laziness.

Then it happened.

I found a piece of paper that I had written my weight on at the start of Shape Up Cape and discovered that I have lost five pounds since May 12.

Now I'm back in the swing of things and looking forward to next month when I can compare my results again!

Bob Miller

Day 1, 8th minute, first run: Dear Lord, please ... GASP! ... help me make it just ... GASP! ... a bit farther. ... Pitooey! .. (collapse). Whew. I made it. Thank you, Lord.

Day 2: Dear Lord, please give me strength as weakness and pain permeate every fiber of my being. Please, Lord, put me out of my misery.

Week 4: Dear Lord, your creation is beautiful. Thank you.

Week 10-20: Dear Lord, should I give up sports writing and go to news?

Week 52, Wednesday, June 12, a day after lifting with free weights for first time since high school: Once again, Lord, weakness and pain permeate every fiber of my being. Lord help me.

Friday's run, 40th minute: Dear Lord, please ... GASP! ... help me make it a bit farther. Five more ... Pitooey! ... minutes and I'll pick up one more ... ugh, ... Shape Up Cape point. Whew. I made it. Thank you, Lord.

Amen.

Joe Sullivan

Don't Lutherans have real jobs?

Take a look at that team at St. Andrew Lutheran Church. All they do is run and walk and swim.

Maybe they should spend a little more time with the Good Book's fitness manual:

"Let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us." -- Hebrews 12:1

Note: No weight training. And slow down. You'll run yourself right into perdition if you're not careful.

The folks at the Cape Girardeau Public Library, on the other hand, are so busy reading they don't have time to run. That's OK.

Here's my favorite Bible verse for today: "Better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof, and the patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit. -- Ecclesiastes 7:8

When is Shape Up Cape over?

Next week: Updates from the other five team members.