Fitness started out as friendship

Four women who met in an online wedding planning chat room 11 years to share tips on bachelorette parties and invitations never thought they'd be where they are today.

Instead of wedding dresses and head pieces, they're donning bike shorts and goggles for the YWCA Women's Triathlon at Minneapolis' Lake Nokomis.

They make an eclectic triathlon team. For one thing, the women are from all across the Midwest. For another, only one had done a triathlon before. And for most, the whole "fitness thing" was new.

Rebecca Waldoch, the Minnesota member of the group; Darrah Buren from Lawrence, Kan.; Michelle Newman Brady from Granville, Ohio, and Laura Earle from Chicago hope to complete the triathlon by swimming 500 yards, biking 15.5 miles and running 3.1 miles.

"It looked totally within the realm of possibility" for the group, said Waldoch. "And it was a great excuse to visit me."

Not everyone was easily convinced.

"I would like to state I have been completely harassed into doing this," Earle said on a conference call with her three friends, who erupted into laughter. "There's no way I would've signed up for this if my three friends were not gung-ho and I felt like the loser on the sidelines."

"We want all women to feel welcome, supported, challenged and celebrated at our race," said race director Nicole Cueno. "For that reason, we love getting the fast, elite women and we equally love getting women who are doing their first triathlon or even their very first athletic event of any kind. ... We make sure that women feel supported during their training and like rock stars at the event."

The four have helped each other through marriage and divorce, birth and relationships. Previous get-togethers have included weddings and party weekends. Now, they've become a support group for each other during the training period, staying in touch through e-mail.

Waldoch inspired the group to travel to the Twin Cities for the triathlon after getting into shape through long walks through St. Paul and hearing about Brady's forays into road races and sprint triathlons. When she checked out the women's triathlon last summer, it seemed like a perfect fit, even for the most reluctant triathlete of the group.

"My goal is to not have a heart attack on the course," Earle said. "I had great intentions when we signed up, but I'll get started and then get busy and stop. ... It's definitely helped to read the back-and-forth e-mails every day and hear what everyone else is doing. It definitely is inspiring."

Waldoch, a walker-turned-runner, has already done a 5K and half-marathon. "In the past couple years I'd gotten to the point where I was going for 9-mile walks, but that was a pretty big time suck for the day, so I thought I should at least try to run part of it."

Brady, the triathlon veteran of the group, recently completed her first Olympic-distance triathlon. "Last year, I did a sprint triathlon in Ohio and it completely kicked my butt so I knew I was going to come back this year. I just can't wait to see how this all goes."

No matter what, they all agree that any excuse to get together is a good one. But it begs the question of what's next.

"I don't know how we'll top this," Waldoch said.