11Today, the 10 women, still juggling family and work, consider themselves as likely as any group to pound the pavement, pedal their bicycles and power through the water.
The group competed in its first sprint triathlon in mid-July in Webster, Mass., and will tackle upcoming races including the Buzzards Bay, Mass., sprint triathlon on Sept. 28.
Since April, they have lost weight and gained tons of encouragement from each other.
Challenges at the start were finding the time and the motivation.
"It's a huge time commitment," said Laura Stanton, 43, of Windham.
The skills and endurance they needed to build up seemed daunting.
Lee Cronk, 44, of Pelham, said she thought, "That's for professional athletes."
The second day of training one woman fell and broke a finger.
Organizer Karen Precourt, 44, of Londonderry, sent out regular e-mails, telling her teammates they could do it, they would do it.
Jenna Bourne, 27, of Manchester, sent her teammates information about training techniques.
Group members share another bond. They work at Stonyfield Farm yogurt in Londonderry and the company sponsors them.
The women train every day for an hour or two, sometimes on their own, sometimes together.
It has gotten to the point for some of them that they feel something is missing in their lives if they skip a day of working out.
"Your body kind of craves it after a while," Stanton said.
On Wednesday, seven of the women formed two groups at Precourt's house, taking turns running the neighborhood streets and getting breathing lessons from a swim instructor in Precourt's backyard pool.
The swimming, while the shortest part of the sprint triathlon events, has presented some of the biggest challenges.
Earlier, when the group practiced swimming at Cobbetts Pond in Windham, Kris Roberge, 40, of Manchester, took two strokes and freaked out.
She wasn't a confident swimmer and was afraid of the open water. She retreated to the roped-off beach section for her swim.
The next day, however, her husband accompanied her on a long-distance swim, bringing a boogie-board along.
Roberge has gained an upper hand over her fear.
Others in the group have gotten support from family, as well.
On Wednesday, before braving the cool water in Precourt's above-ground pool, Lori Hershey, 40, of Manchester, said her 7-year-old daughter showed her a swimming technique that helps keep a swimmer afloat.
The girl calls it "the Superman." When using the technique, the swimmer looks like Superman taking flight.
Hershey passed on the tip to Cronk, 44, of Pelham, who was already in the pool, lengthening her stroke and tilting her head to the side and breathing.
All the running, swimming and biking is inspiring friendship and boosting health.
Stanton has lost 40 pounds since she started training. Precourt has lost 14.
"And I didn't really try," Precourt said.
A sprint triathlon is not as physically and mentally demanding as a full triathlon, but it is still a challenge.
Typical sprints consist of 3-mile runs, 12- to 14-mile bike rides and half-mile swims.
