MALL WALKER REACHES 3,200 MILES IN A YEAR

When it comes to exercise, Dorothy DiGirolamo walks rings around most people, and those rings stretch out for 3,200 miles.

That's how far DiGirolamo, a 67-year-old Cape Girardeau grandmother, has walked in the last year, mostly at Westfield Shoppingtown West Park.

"I try to walk seven days a week, at least five miles a day," DiGirolamo said. "Some days I walk five miles in the morning, come back around lunch time for another couple of miles and then walk again in the evening."

"She's at the mall more than some of the store employees here," said Joyce Hunter, Shoppingtown's marketing director.

DiGirolamo has kept track of her miles through West Park Walkers, a program for those who walk at the mall that began last June. To put DiGirolamo's accomplishment in perspective, Hunter said several walkers have passed the 500-mile mark, a couple have reached the 700- to 800-mile range, but no one has come close to 1,000 miles, much less more than 3,000, other than DiGirolamo.

While DiGirolamo is proud of her mileage accomplishment, she's even prouder of the weight she lost through walking, which was the reason she began the exercise program to begin with.

DiGirolamo began walking in December 1994. She had become depressed after her husband's death and gained 55 pounds. On her 5-foot-2 frame, she said the extra weight made her ashamed to look in the mirror.

By eating a low-fat diet and walking at least five miles a day, she lost 73 pounds, dropping down to 127 pounds.

A bout with the flu prevented DiGirolamo from walking every day for much of February and March, and she's now up to 137 pounds. Now that she's feeling in top form again, she said she has stepped up her walking program to three times a day with a goal of losing 17 pounds.

Besides losing weight, DiGirolamo said walking makes her feel great.

"It helps me control my blood pressure, and I just feel like I have more energy," DiGirolamo said.

While DiGirolamo sometimes walks through the Cape Girardeau neighborhood where she lives, she prefers walking at the mall because of the support she finds there.

"People will come up to you and tell you they've noticed how much weight you've lost or how good you look," she said. "It really inspires you and keeps you going."

DiGirolamo is also generous with support for others.

She recently encountered someone at the local water company who needed encouragement to get into a fitness routine. So DiGirolamo found the large sweat pants she wore before losing weight and showed them to the woman to prove weight-loss is possible.

Such support is one reason for establishing West Park Walkers, which is co-sponsored by Firstar and St. Francis Medical Center, Hunter said.

"Most of the walkers here are very serious while they are walking, but once they finish they sit down together to talk or have a cup of coffee," Hunter said.

People don't need to be a member of the Walkers to walk at the mall, which is open to walkers from 7 to 10 a.m. Monday through Saturday, 10 to noon on Sunday. However, the free program does offer monthly programs and a log book to keep up with mileage and progress. There will be a party to celebrate the first anniversary of the walking club at 8:30 a.m. June 7 in the ShopKo Court.

"The club is another way to keep people motivated," Hunter said.

DiGirolamo said she's always kept track of her mileage because she finds it keeps her motivated.

"Even when I don't feel like walking, I make myself do it because I want to get in that five miles per day," DiGirolamo said.

She puts on her Hush Puppy walking shoes (which she says is the only brand she's found that she doesn't have to break in), grabs her radio headphones (she favors K-103) and heads to the mall.

"It's nice here because you know how far you've walked and you don't have to worry about the weather," she said.

"We are all inspired by people like Dorothy, who make a commitment to a healthy lifestyle and have the discipline to stick with it," said Jim Govro, Shoppingtown's general manager.

And DiGirolamo plans on not only sticking with it, but surpassing this year's milestone.

"I was sick part of this year or I think I would have walked even farther," DiGirolamo said about the 3,200 miles she covered. "If I stay healthy, I think I can top that."

How far is 3,200 miles?

Dorothy Digiolamo, a member of West Park Walkers, walked 3,200 miles in the past year. What's that equivalent to?

To walk all of that at Westfield Shoppingtown West Park mall, where a lap walking down every hallway is 0.68 mile, would take 4,706 laps.

You could walk the round trip from Cape Girardeau to St. Louis and back (about 240 miles) 13 times.

Walking 3,200 miles would take you from Cape Girardeau to Yellowstone National Park and back.

If you started walking south from Cape Girardeau, you would reach Merida, a town in the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico, before you finished your 3,200 miles.

It's also about 3,200 miles from Bangor, Maine, to San Francisco.