THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, June 16, 1996 TAG: 9606160020
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY JENNIFER MCMENAMIN, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NAGS HEAD LENGTH: 88 lines
Marie Tenda used to walk on the beach. But not anymore.
With summer - also known as the season of tourists - in full swing, the 62-year-old Kitty Hawk resident said beach walking is more trouble than it's worth.
``Tourists are there fishing and kids are in front of the water and people are lying here and here,'' Tenda said, motioning to her left and right. ``It's distracting.''
To avoid these diversions without losing the benefits of walking, Tenda turned to Beach Striders, a new group involved in a progressive walking program run by the Regional Medical Center and Albemarle Hospital in the Outer Banks Mall.
Benefits, said participants and organizers, include a secure, temperature-controlled environment, mileage incentives, free health screenings and discounts at mall stores. In less than a week, 10 people registered.
A similar program, now in its seventh year in Elizabeth City, has drawn about 180 striders to Southgate Mall there.
``It has been very positive,'' said Sandra Phelps, a spokeswoman for Albemarle Hospital. ``Kind of a camaraderie is built among them (the striders).''
The Nags Head mall opens two hours early for Beach Striders, making it an air-conditioned and humidity-free ``track'' from 8 a.m. to 9:30 p.m.
After walking 12 miles, which translates into 48 laps around the mall's quarter-mile course, walkers receive a membership card for 10 to 20 percent mall discounts and a T-shirt emblazoned with the program's mascot, a sandpiper wearing tennis shoes.
``I'm working,'' Tenda said Thursday morning while resting after her two-mile walk. ``I want one of those T-shirts.''
``No,'' she added with a chuckle. ``I'm doing it because I have to and because I enjoy it.''
Tenda, a patient in the medical center's cardiac rehabilitation program, underwent open heart surgery in mid-January. She was first in line at Saturday's kick-off celebration.
Ruth and Bill Mangan of Nags Head were attracted to Beach Striders for similar reasons.
Bill Mangan, 65, checked into a hospital for triple bypass surgery four years ago. Since then, he and his wife have become regular walkers.
``It's just something I started after that (his surgery) and kept it going,'' he said. ``It just makes you feel better. I've got enough pep left in me to cut the grass when I go home.''
In addition to the 17 miles they walked at the mall in their first five days with the program, the couple - who moved to the Outer Banks a month ago from Northern Virginia - walks the dunes at Jockey's Ridge, the streets of their Southridge neighborhood and the sands of nearby beaches.
This is not the Mangans' first experience with mall walking. Inclement weather in Northern Virginia sent them to mega-malls, where one lap could measure two miles, Ruth Mangan said.
But after moving to the Outer Banks, bad weather meant a day off for the pair - until they joined Beach Striders at the mall.
``I just wish it was bigger,'' she said, ``so you didn't have to walk in so many circles.''
But even when walking in circles, the benefits of walking are innumerable, said Karen Campbell, an Albemarle Hospital nurse in the cardiac rehabilitation department of Regional Medical Center.
``It keeps the heart in shape. It keeps the lungs in shape. It keeps the circulation moving,'' said Campbell, who shows walkers how to take their pulse and monitors their progress from a table in the mall every Thursday morning. ``Getting the circulation moving and the metabolism going makes you have more energy.''
Tenda agreed.
``I look forward to rehab so much more,'' she said. ``I have so much fun there. They play real jazzy music, so when you're on the treadmill you want to run.''
But for now, Tenda said, she'll stick to walking.
``I want one of those shirts so bad,'' she said as she headed toward the mall's exit. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo by DREW C. WILSON\The Virginian-Pilot
Marie Tenda, 62, of Kitty Hawk, left, talks with Cathi Ostrander of
Albemarle Hospital, a sponsor of Beach Striders, at the Outer Banks
Mall Saturday. Tenda was first to sign up for the program.
[Sidebar]
Where: Outer Banks Mall at milepost 14.5 on the Bypass
Cost: Free
To register: Call Karen at the Cardiac Rehabilitation Department
of the Regional Medical Center (261-9015) or register in person
Thursday mornings at 8:30. For more information on the Elizabeth
City program, call 331-4455. by CNB