Even though the program has ended, plenty of participants in Shape Up Cape vowed to continue their exercise routines despite not earning any points for their efforts.

"I was exercising anyway, but it caused me to do more," said Gail Conrad, team captain for the city of Cape Girardeau's team. "Now when I get out of bed, I'm not thinking about points."

While most people complained about the point value for each exercise, participants still managed to rack them up from mid-May through the end of September.

The exercise program sponsored by the chamber of commerce ended Saturday.

The competition for first place was stiff in some divisions. Winners were Patrick's Furniture in the mammoth corporation division, the City of Cape Girardeau in the non-profit division and the SEMO Business Group on Health in the small business division.

The Southeast Missourian newsroom's Fit to Print team didn't manage to beat those marathon runners at St. Andrew Lutheran Church, so we owe them ice cream treats, but we did place second in our category.

The whole idea behind Shape Up Cape was not a weight-loss contest but just to make people healthier, said Annette Hunt of the chamber. She was the person responsible for calculating points each week and double-checking scores.

"I think it's great that it made some people get up and do something," she said.

Though she's curious about the teams whose members earned 55 points in a day or the person who said they swam laps for three hours straight. "In 99 percent of the forms that came in, I had to make changes," she said.

Most of the errors were in addition. "You'd think by the end that people would get it figured out," she said. Sometimes people would calculate 14 points for one hour's walk on a Tuesday, but on Thursday they might give themselves 23 points for the same activity.

Goal accomplished

But points aside, Shape Up Cape accomplished what it set out to do: get Cape Girardeau in better physical shape than it was before May 10.

There are plenty of success stories to be told.

Paula Gresham, a member of the public library's Bookin' Team, lost 45 pounds during the four-month stint; she walked and stopped eating junk food.

Members of the SEMO Business Group on Health noticed that their clothes began fitting more loosely and they lost inches. "You could see that people felt better," said Jennifer Davis, the team's captain.

Most of the team members were already regular exercisers, but one person wasn't, so Shape Up Cape meant she began working out five days a week, Davis said.

Gail Conrad started jogging. Already a regular exerciser, she said the program helped increase the intensity of her workout. After all, the competitive spirit drove participants to earn more points -- and that meant doing more cardiovascular exercises.

"Everybody's trying to stay healthier, and this gives them a little push," said Carolyn Young, team captain for Patrick's Furniture. The team consistently earned the maximum 140 points per person each week.

"We never dreamed we'd come in first. We never even thought we'd be third or fourth," she said.

But when the team committed to the program, "we didn't want to embarrass ourselves," she said.

And they didn't. Team members who never exercised regularly before began spending at least an hour a day exercising. One woman lost 25 pounds in the four months.

The warehouse crew spent part of their lunch hours walking so they could earn points. "We were always checking up on each other," Young said.

And the team had such fun they'd do it again. "But we're expecting somebody to challenge us," she said.

Shape Up Cape gained attention from St. Louis University and the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services, not to mention all the readers who tracked the Fit to Print team's progress in the newspaper.

Statewide recognition

Andy Shea, public information assistant with the health department's bureau of chronic disease control, said the state was interested in how the program worked and tracked progress through the weekly updates published in the Southeast Missourian. "It was something readers could develop a relationship with," he said.

And any time a community can take ownership of a project, like Shape Up Cape, it means better results in the long-term, he said.

ljohnston@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 126

FINAL TOTALSFIT TO PRINT

The Southeast Missourian newsroom's Fit to Print team finished Shape Up Cape with a cumulative 1,539.4 points, putting the team in second place for its division. Here are our individual point totals for Sept. 23 through 28.

Sam Blackwell 112

Andrea Buchanan 50

Spencer Cramer 47

Heidi Hall 62

Jamie Hall 84

Gabe Hartwig 67

Laura Johnston 88

Heather Kronmueller 50

Bob Miller 64

Joe Sullivan 74Total 698

Average 69.8

OUR CHALLENGERS

Cape Girardeau Public Library

Total 275

Average 30.5St. Andrew Lutheran Church

Total 862

Average 86.2TEAM STANDINGS

Cumulative point averages per team

Non-profit teams

City of Cape Girardeau 1673.429

St. Andrew Lutheran Church 1634.7

Southeast Missouri State-SEMO S.A.S. 1557.923

Area Wide United Way Community Builders 999.333

Cape Library-Bookin' Team 971.429

New Vision Youth & Family Services 696.667

Safehouse for Women-Laughing Stock 381.571

Small-business teams

SEMO Business Group on Health BG's 1237.25

FSI Heartland 936.5

Innovative Idea Integration 887.222

Cape Chamber Hot N Heavy 821

Cape Imaging MRI 585.143

Corporate teams

Patrick Furniture 1829.4

Southeast Missourian-Fit to Print 1539.4

Southeast Missourian-Concord-Ton of Fun 1436.182

Southeast Missouri Hospital 2-Top Dawgs 1432.909

St. Francis Med. Ctr.-Fit to the Highest Power 1327.133

Nordenia U.S.A. 1217.5

Blue Cross-Powerful Blue 1002.8

Mid-America Hotels-Mid-America Wellness 991.273

Southeast Missouri Hospital-Crit Care Crunchers 962

D&K Healthcare 913.5

Team-U.S. Bank 747

SBC Southwestern Bell-Bell's Angels 743.143

Cape Physician Associates 1 695.733

Hutson's Furniture Company- La-Z Team 1 544.75

SBC Southwestern Bell-SBC Squad 516.769

Hutson's Furniture Company- La-Z Team 2 480.444

Southeast Missourian-Slim Pickens 452.667

Physician Associates-2 Margaret's Mashers 444.533

SBC Southwestern Bell-The Energizers 426.692

Cape Physician Associates 3 403.533

SBC Southwestern Bell-The Fitness Freaks 246.583

SBC Southwestern Bell-The Fit 15 64.133