The 2009 getfit@mit Fitness Challenge is presented by MIT Medical
Nothing complex about CAC’s getfit@mit win
By helping each other accumulate exercise minutes through 12 weeks of thick and thin, Team CAC helped themselves win the getfit@mit 2009 grand prize.
Members of Team CAC are, from left: Chris Nayler, C.J. Azubuine, Claudette Palmer, Nicole Messuri, and Jennifer Smith. Not pictured: Aaron Donaghey, Kristin Cicciarella.
Team CAC from the Campus Activities Complex was chosen at random from the 168 eligible teams—those whose average exercise minutes met or exceeded the weekly goal for at least 10 of the 12 weeks. The winners received messenger bags embroidered with their team name and “2009 getfit@mit champions” and filled with goodies, including City Sports gift certificates and tee-shirts, Appalachian Mountain Club guides, and insulated lunch bags.
“It was tough when we had a patch of illness and folks had trouble getting individual minutes. But other folks exercised more and had enough extra minutes to keep us on target,” said team co-captain Jennifer Smith, assistant director at CAC. Her teammates were co-captain Aaron Donaghey, C.J. Azubuine, Kristin Cicciarella, Nicole Messuri, Chris Nayler, and Claudette Palmer.
Claudette Palmer, manager of the Campus Activities Complex, shows off the messenger bag she won as a member of Team CAC, the grand prize winner of the getfit@mit challenge.
Interestingly, Team CAC managed without doing a lot of exercising together (although Smith walked regularly at lunch with Palmer). “I usually worked out by myself, mostly because I was training for the marathon, which is a very individual activity,” said Messuri, an administrative assistant at CAC.
Nayler, an assistant manager at CAC, logged a lot of minutes on the job, “walking back and forth across campus and running up and down stairwells within the Student Center to check on events for the CAC.” He also met his exercise goals doing technical work for operas and other theatrical events outside MIT, lugging around heavy equipment and climbing ladders. Even so, “I did have a week somewhere in the middle where I didn’t have any theater engagements and I also had an extra day off from work, so I had to push myself to walk to the grocery store that week and do a couple of other activities to fit in all the needed minutes,” Nayler added. Smith also motivated herself while shoveling this winter’s copious snow by remembering that the activity counted in her getfit minutes total.
In general, though, the team kept on track by simply spending a little more time each week exercising. “I work part-time as a personal trainer, so I felt it was important that my behavior reflect what I expect from my clients. Many of them have similar fitness challenges at their jobs, so it was fun for all of us,” said Azubuine, a CAC assistant manager.
“I’ve always been an active person, so being part of the getfit team motivated me to do more. I always had in mind that getfit was about just doing more activity then you’re used to,” Messuri said.
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