Connie Sievers: A Personal Journey to a National Health Campaign
Connie Sievers, the CTE and Health curriculum coordinator for Des Moines Public Schools, was selected by CNN to take part in a health challenge that will culminate with competing in a triathlon in September.
Talk about walking the walk!
One of Connie Sievers responsibilities is serving as the district’s Health Curriculum Coordinator for the Career and Tech Ed Institute at Central Campus.
Oh, and she’s also a member of Sassy Six, a CNN select team that will compete at the Nautica Malibu Triathlon in Malibu, CA on September 14. But that’s really the epilogue of a long, compelling personal story. Let’s rewind.
Eighteen years ago Connie lost her five year-old daughter to leukemia. Among the emotional consequences of that tragedy was a gradual weight gain of some 70 pounds which, try as she might, she couldn’t undo. Then last year one of her two sons married a triathlete who became an inspiration that’s rippled throughout the Sievers family.
Last September Connie rose to her daughter-in-law’s encouragement and challenge, and began a regular workout routine that included pre-dawn swims, weights, biking and running. Shortly after that her sister tipped her off to CNN health guru Dr. Sanjay Gupta’s initiative called Fit Nation. The program was calling for applicants to send in videos making their cases to be chosen for this year’s triathlon team.
Right away Connie sat down and taped her story, before she lost her nerve. Around Thanksgiving she got a call from a CNN producer asking follow-up questions and talking like she was in the running, so to speak. Then on December 12 she got a call to arrange a Skype meeting later that day. She was told she’d been chosen as one of 15 finalists out of hundreds of applications for the six spots. After work that day when she went home and logged on, Dr. Gupta was one of the other parties to the Skype session. Before it ended he personally congratulated Connie for being named to the team.
Last week she was flown to Atlanta to meet her teammates and their coach and begin formal preparations that will have them ready for their four-mile run, 18 mile bike ride and half-mile swim in the Pacific Ocean on September 14.
“They had us try on our team suits,” said Connie. “They were so tight they just pushed everything up and over the sides. I told them, ‘These are just all kinds of wrong,’ but they swear we’ll fit into them come September.”
Connie’s CNN-prescribed regimen will just pick up where her own program leaves off. She had already given herself an 11-pound head start in training by the time she learned of the Fit Nation sweepstakes. Now she and her teammates will have professional expertise working for them. “In March they’re sending us all custom bikes,” she said. “I can’t wait!” After the bike arrives the next big prep step will come when the team convenes in Laguna Beach, CA in May for eight days of training at swimming in the ocean surf. Laps in an indoor pool are one thing; beating back the tide is quite another.
Another motivator for Connie is that CNN invited the growing cohort of triathletes in her family to join her for the Malibu event. Right now that includes her son, daughter-in-law and a couple of nieces and nephews that have come into the fold.
Connie is also rallying support here at home for her efforts, including giving friends and colleagues a red rubber wrist band to show their solidarity with her efforts. On one side is notes the three events of the triathlon – swim, bike, run – and one the other side it simply says “TriHard.”
For more about Connie’s continuing and inspiring story, and to learn how you can follow her progress between now and September, click the CNN links below:
