A perfect match of heart and soles
Walk for Hunger motivates couple on rocky road to fitness
According to Dina Conlon-Bilo's pedometer, she took about 50,000 steps to cover the 20-mile route of Project Bread's Walk for Hunger last year.
Which was nothing compared with the steps she had already taken just to get to the starting line.
"I've been overweight my whole life," said Conlon-Bilo, who is 34 years old and lives in Chelsea with her husband, Scott Bilo. "While I've always been involved in a lot of activities, I used to hate physical exertion. In high school, I would tell my friends they could go do their Jane Fonda workout and I'd do the Henry Fonda workout."
Conlon-Bilo, a senior administrative assistant at the international accounting firm KPMG in Boston, said she used to pay $425 per month in parking to avoid walking to her office from the T station.
But two years ago, Conlon-Bilo had a revelation. "I looked around and said to myself, 'I love my husband; I love my family; I love my job,' " she recalled. "The only thing wrong is my weight. It's time to take control of that problem."
Conlon-Bilo's husband was overweight also, so the two decided to tackle the problem together. Their doctor recommended a medically supervised meal replacement plan.
The couple started their diet in June 2005. Two months later, they were driving home from a weekend trip to Rhode Island when a large box fell off the truck ahead of them. Bilo swerved to avoid it, but lost control of the car and hit the highway divider. Their car flipped over three times and skidded 60 feet.
Scott Bilo suffered minor injuries, but Dina broke her arm and shattered a vertebrae in her neck. Incapacitated for several months, she worried about the setback to her diet plan.
As soon as she could, she started taking mile -long walks around her neighborhood. In January 2006, she returned to work. She noticed posters around the office advertising the Project Bread Walk for Hunger. "I thought, 'What a comeback that would be for me, ' " Conlon-Bilo recalled.
Dina and Scott spent the next four months training together. The couple joined a fitness club, where they walked on the track, did aqua-aerobics, and developed a passion for stationary biking. Meanwhile, long walks became their favorite recreational activity.
With corporate sponsorship from KPMG, as well as donations from dozens of friends and relatives, Conlon-Bilo raised more than $500 last year, putting her in Project Bread's Heart and Sole Circle.
"The Walk for Hunger is amazing because of the number of people that turn out for it," she said. "It's so energizing, with so many people cheering you on."
When Conlon-Bilo and a small group of her KPMG co workers reached the finish line eight hours after setting off, Scott was waiting with flowers. She was 170 pounds lighter than she had been a year earlier.
Thrilled with her success, Conlon-Bilo immediately decided not to make it a one-time success. She set her sights on this year's walk, and has raised more than $1,000.
But the year was not without its setbacks. Last July, Conlon-Bilo was thrilled to find out that she was pregnant, but the pregnancy ended after just four months.
"We were heartbroken, and I started turning back to food because that's always been my comfort," Conlon-Bilo said. "I wish I were one of those people who says, 'I'm having a rough day so I need to go for a run.' But I'm not. I don't smoke or drink; I eat."
After two months, Dina and Scott resolved to get back on track. "We realized it just wasn't who we were anymore to eat badly, to sabotage ourselves like that," Conlon-Bilo said. She had gained back 20 pounds in the interim, but she quickly resumed training for today's walk. Although KPMG is not officially fronting a team this year, Conlon-Bilo said her colleagues have been generous with their pledges.
Marie Stapleton, who is the community affairs coordinator at KPMG, said it was a pleasure to support Conlon-Bilo's efforts. "Dina is one of the most remarkable people I have ever known," Stapleton said. "Despite everything she has been through, she continues to face life with an unstoppable resolve, an outsized sense of compassion for others, and an absolutely wicked sense of humor."
The pregnancy loss inspired the couple to add another walk to their spring schedule as well. Last weekend, they participated in the March of Dimes Walk to raise money for research into birth defects. Conlon-Bilo said that although she loves the walk itself, she can't help but be acutely aware of each cause and its relevance to her life.
"The Walk for Hunger supports a cause that is near and dear to me," she said. "I can't bear the thought of children going to bed hungry. Food should be a given."
Today, Dina and Scott join more than 40,000 others as they complete the 20-mile loop through Boston, Brookline, Newton, and Cambridge. Conlon-Bilo said she thinks of the Walk for Hunger as a yearly milestone for herself and her husband. "Every year, we'll do this and think back on everything that's happened to us in the year since the last one," she laughed. "It's like our own personal version of New Year's Day." 