Mona Koerner’s to-do list looks a little something like this: home-schooling her 8-year-old daughter, Logan, and taking her to violin and swimming lessons, helping out her 90-year-old grandmother, maintaining her own grant-writing business, tending to the family dogs, Zia and Anasazi, vacuuming, grocery shopping, cooking and tackling that seemingly never-ending mound of laundry.

Koerner, 41, says it’s all a part of being a wife and mother, a life she loves living day to day. But last summer, she says, she felt the urge to strike out on her own. And when she did, things didn’t happen the way she planned.

For that, she’s actually glad.

	If you go WHAT: Coyote Carrera Triathlon. Run 3.1 miles, bike 12.5 miles, swim 1/4 mile WHEN: 8:15 a.m. Saturday, April 21 HOW MUCH: Registration is $50 and can be done online at nmsportsonline.com. For more info, visit chasing3.com

“I was looking for adult swim lessons,” she says, “but suddenly found myself running around a parking lot in my swimsuit with two 12-year-old boys.”

She instead wound up in a triathlon class last summer at the West Mesa Aquatic Center. She’s now preparing for her first race: the Coyote Carrera Triathlon on April 21.

Koerner is among the growing number of midlife women getting involved in triathlons. Back in 2005, there were 12,618 women ages 30-49 registered with USA Triathlon, according to numbers provided by the organization. By the end of 2011, that number had nearly doubled to 24,588. Male registrants have increased rapidly during that span, too, but women now represent a bigger piece of the total pie. Across all age groups (under-16 to 90-plus), women in 2011 represented 38.5 percent of all USAT members, up from 32.3 percent just six years earlier.

And while Coyote Carrera, like most triathlons, is a co-ed affair, there are a slew of women’s-only events around the country each year. That includes the live.love.tri. Triathlon in Rio Rancho on Aug. 25.

For Koerner, learning to run, swim, and bike didn’t come without a touch of humility.

“On the first day of swimming, as soon as I put my hand in the water, I lost my wedding ring. It slipped off my finger and into the deep water,” she says.

Wesley Donald, a certified USA Triathlon Race Director and seasoned triathlete who headed the class Koerner took, says snafus are not uncommon in the sport.

“We found Mona’s ring right away. Stuff happens like that when you race too. When I first started, I went to a race and forgot my helmet. You can’t even be in a race without a helmet, and the race director had one I borrowed. Now I bring extra helmets and bike pedals if someone forgets,” he says.

The need to recover her ring wasn’t the only unnerving part about training, Koerner says.

“I can tell you about my apprehensions about being a middle-aged woman running around town in her swimsuit,” she says. “My husband told me not to worry, that no one would see me running around the neighborhood like that. And what happened? Suzanne saw me and wondered what in the world I was doing.”

But seeing Koerner was all it took for 46-year-old Suzanne Lawrence – her longtime friend who also home-schools her two children, Nicole and Isaiah, and runs them to their own sports and activities – to decide to take time out for herself to join Koerner and Donald.

“It’s hard to do things for ourselves. As moms, we all feel like that. It felt like a big accomplishment learning triathlon for myself. For busy moms, it’s so important to take time for ourselves,” Lawrence says. “I always told myself that one of these days, I was going to learn how to swim. I wasn’t looking to do a triathlon, but now I know how.”

Several months of training later, both moms say they feel stronger and their workouts have made an impression on their families.

Lawrence got her daughter Nicole, 11, involved with a cross-country club and ran with her daughter’s team. Nicole says with her mom’s help in training, she qualified and ran in the cross-country nationals in South Carolina.

“My mom does a lot for us. It made me feel really happy to be with her and that she would sacrifice to run with me. I love her a lot,” Nicole says.

And for the busy Koerner household, “All three of us are swimming and biking and running. I would come home after working out and my mood was just great, and that inspired my husband to try it too. We’re all going to do a triathlon this season,” Koerner says.

Even though she’s not a great runner, Koerner says she loves swimming and biking. She says she’s come a long way since those first days of running around West Mesa and, true to the triathlon community, she’s ready to encourage anyone who’s just getting started.

“If someone is newer to it than me, I’d say it improved my mood. It’s something to focus on. It made me reclaim some identity for myself. If you’re wrapped up in being a mom or your work, just do it,” she says.

Wesley Donald, who leads regular triathlon clinics in Albuquerque, created the Coyote Carrera Triathlon in 2010 with families in mind.

And while the race – featuring a 3.1-mile run, 12.5-mile bike and 1/4-mile swim – is geared toward first-timers, Donald said it also appeals to advanced athletes.

“The course is easy and flat; there’s no relative hills or change in elevation. The run is along the bosque by Tingley Beach that goes along fishing ponds. You can see cottonwood trees and, to the east, you can see a little bit of downtown plus the Sandia Mountains in the distance,” he says.

Donald adds that no one should be intimidated about giving Coyote Carrera a go.

“The community of triathlon is what it’s all about, and before and after the race, you’re still a part of that community. Even the top athlete is stoked to help out a beginner,” he says.

Spring and summer mean plenty of racing opportunities around New Mexico. On the Internet, both nmsportsonline.com and chasing3.com list several of the upcoming races throughout the state.