This is a printer-friendly version of an article from Zip06.com.
08/24/2016 08:30 AMChase Michael Anthony Kowalski was seven years old on Dec. 14, 2012, the day he died. No one over a certain age will ever forget where they were and what they were doing when the news of his death broke that morning.
Chase was one of 20, 1st-graders gunned down at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown in what became the deadliest grade-school shooting in our nation’s history.
When Heather Theriault heard what had happened, she was driving from Old Saybrook to Clinton.
“My mom called and told me. There was a lot of confusion,” she recalls. “What I clearly remember was thinking about Christmas and that these families had gifts, and that they would have to relive the tragedy over and over again through the holidays and every single day of their lives. It’s the most awful loss anyone could ever experience.”
Putting herself in the shoes of Newtown’s grieving parents, she says, “I would want the whole world to know how special my loved one was and what a blessing their lives were and continue to be.”
This summer, nearly four years later, the mother of two dedicated herself to keeping Chase Kowalski’s legacy alive. Together with her friend and fellow fitness instructor Christine Kopcha, Heather swam, biked, and ran 144 miles up the coasts of Connecticut and Rhode Island, raising more than $8,000 for programs close to Chase’s heart.
“Chase was already a triathlete at age six,” says Heather. “To keep his memory alive and encourage family, love, and fitness, his parents—Rebecca and Steven—created the CMAK Foundation. CMAK are Chase’s initials, and the foundation named after him provides camps, swimming lessons, bikes, helmets, kids’ races, and much more—free of charge.”
An endurance athlete, Heather first came up with the idea to raise money for the CMAK Foundation after her older daughter participated in a kids’ triathlon camp.
“I was introduced to Race4Chase last year, when I heard from my best friend that her daughter was attending a triathlon training camp at the YMCA. Our family didn’t have the money for summer camp, so my plan was to have help with the kids from my mom and mother-in-law and put them in gym daycare while I worked.”
When Heather learned the camp was free, she wasted no time enrolling Lily.
“I was already a triathlete, so I was excited that it might give me and Lily a common hobby,” she says. “Lily loved Race4Chase camp so much that she wouldn’t miss a day. She wore her camp shirt not only at camp, but almost every day this past school year! Kids move on easily, but the experience she had at Race4Chase was memorable—once in a lifetime.”
Heather says Lily’s coaches encouraged their young campers to strive, do their best, and support one another.
“She adored her coaches. They were amazing. I was so moved by the experience that when I came up with the idea to swim, bike, and run the Connecticut coastline, I knew CMAK was the foundation I wanted to partner with and raise money for,” she says. “I wanted to pay it forward. They gave my daughter an opportunity that I could not have given her.”
This past year, both of Heather’s girls—Lily Rose, 11, and Luella Rae, 6—participated in Race4Chase.
“They both have abs now!” she says, adding, “I will bust my butt to make sure I can raise as much money as possible so that every child and family who wants to be a part of Race4Chase can.”
Heather’s fundraiser, Chase the Coast, took place over 20 hours on July 23. It started around daybreak in Greenwich, Connecticut, and ended at 9 p.m. in Westerly, Rhode Island.
“It was an incredible mind-and-body experience,” she says. “My friend Chris and I swam two miles in open water in Greenwich, followed by about 112 miles biking from there to Niantic. We then ran 30 miles from Niantic to Westerly, stopping at several places along the way.”
Many of their stops were local YMCAs, where they greeted and high-fived children running their own Race4Chase events all across the state.
“The most amazing moment for me was when we pulled up to the Valley Shore Y in Westbrook and over 50 people were there cheering for the kids. Many of these supporters were other children who begged their parents to come out on a Saturday night to cheer, make posters, and throw water balloons,” she recalls. “They believe in Chase, and they believe anything is possible. My goal is to prove that they’re right.”
Heather’s own fundraising triathlon, Chase the Coast, she says, “was not about me or Chris. It was about showing our youth that doing good feels good and that helping others and paying it forward makes your heart full. Chase the Coast was about the kids.”
Chase the Coast has raised $8,000 for the CMAK Foundation, she says, “and the goal is to keep raising.”
‘One Team, One Tribe, One Family’
Heather is an instructor and personal trainer at Funktion Fitness in Clinton and Old Saybrook, where she teaches everything from sprint training to something called body combat. She’s petite and strong, and when she smiles it’s like someone lit up the room.
“I love my job,” she says. “The average day for me is teaching a few group exercise classes and coordinating the schedule and programming for group exercise at both Funktion locations. The best part is the people. It’s like going to family every day. We have a saying that we are ‘one team, one tribe, and one family,’ and it’s so true.”
Between colleagues and clients, she says, “We all care for each other and support each other.”
The hardest part? Not always being able to accommodate everyone’s schedule or special requests—“I do my best to find a happy medium.”
Seeing her lift, kick, run, and cycle, it’s hard to believe she wasn’t always the empress of the bench press.
Heather grew up in North Haven, the oldest of six children. Just before her junior year, she moved and graduated from Westbrook High School in 1999.
Though she was physically active as a kid—playing field hockey, running track, and riding her bike—she admits, “I was not that great at sports. I was more interested in theater. I gained weight as a preteen, and then a lot of weight when I moved to Westbrook.”
As a kid, she dreamed of being a movie star.
“My plan was to pack it up and move to Los Angeles and become a superstar! I also love music, so I wanted to direct music videos,” she adds.
She studied acting and circus training at the Educational Center for the Arts in New Haven, then communications and acting at Western Connecticut State University—“But I only lasted a semester,” she says. “Then I just started working and auditioning.”
When she’s not doing planks and lunges, you’ll find Heather waiting tables at Chip’s Pub.
“I’ve done personal training and taught group classes at a bike and boot camp, Branford YMCA, and other fitness clubs,” she says, “as well as catered banquets and local parties.”
“Geez,” she reflects. “I’ve done a lot of odd jobs to pay my bills. I hustle!”
Part of that enterprising spirit, she says, she owes to her parents.
“I come from an amazing family. I have four younger sisters and a brother. My parents are incredibly hard working. My mom was a swimming teacher, an artist, and a sales consultant for Longaberger baskets.” Heather’s father, a mechanic, custom car builder, and restorer, owns Mike’s Townline Service Center, an auto shop in Westbrook. He had once been a racecar driver, and growing up, Heather and her siblings spent most weekends at Riverside Park Speedway in Agawam, Massachusetts. She still loves the thrill of a theme park,she says.
Heather and Kevin, her husband of 13 years, and their girls share their home with a chocolate Lab named Leroy Brown.
“He’s a troublemaker,” she says.
The family lives in Clinton, a town they love for the people who live there.
“There are a lot of down-to-earth, hardworking people In Clinton. People are friendly, and the town has a lot of fun stuff going on year-round,” says Heather. “I love the Memorial Day celebration, and I really love Halloween in our neighborhood.” And while she may not dip into the candy bucket, she admits Dairy Queen and Diet Coke are her guilty pleasures.
“I don’t have many secrets,” she says. “But even though I’m a trainer, I hate veggies.”
Chase the Coast 2016 is over, but Heather’s efforts to make preschool YMCA fitness programs and noncompetitive kids’ triathlon training accessible to all children continues.
Chase Kowalski was a runner almost from the time he could walk, and he competed in his first running events—the 50-, 100-, and 400-meter races—at Bethel High School’s summer track program when he was 2 ½. The CMAK Foundation is his parents’ way of ensuring that the activities Chase loved would continue to inspire boys and girls, promote family programs, and encourage community health and healing.
Anyone interested in learning about Race4Chase or Heather Theriault’s Chase the Coast can email her at heathertbomb@gmail.com. Additional information is available at cmakfoundation.org.