Going the Distance

For April Gellatly Burkey (B.A. '07), becoming a triathlete was originally a way to heal.

When her father died in 2003, she left Youngstown State University where she had a swimming scholarship to move closer to family in Atlanta. Her new university, Georgia State, did not have a swimming program.

"I just needed something, and triathlon, it allows you the ability to self-heal a little bit," she recalls. "Long rides and long runs, it was what I needed at the time to help get over the loss."

Burkey was a founding member of the GSU Triathlon Club and has since competed in more than 100 triathlons, including 11 grueling Iron Man competitions. When Burkey was at Georgia State, she says, she used skills learned as a marketing major to sell her professors on excusing her from class for competitions. "I would create very formatted and sophisticated permission sheets and give one to each of my professors," she remembers. "Some would think it was pretty cool."

Now, as an elite-level triathlete and a USA Triathlon-certified coach, Burkey trains others in swimming, biking and running. In the winter of 2010, she got a call from CNN - on the recommendation of a Georgia State connection, actually - to help train chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta, along with six producers, as part of the network's Fit Nation segment.

One of the biggest problems for the producers, she says, was time. "If you are so absorbed in your work that you don't allow yourself the time it takes to work out, that's a challenge," she says. "I had a hard time impressing upon them, 'We've got to get moving, guys, we've got to get in the water, we've got to get on our bikes!'"

Burkey has been invited to work with CNN Fit Nation producers and select viewers again in 2011.