Michael Mills of Marietta is health on wheels.

The 31-year-old paraplegic athlete is training for his first triathlon, thanks to a nonprofit started by Michael Lenhart.

Bruce McCarthy (ENLARGE)

Getting2Tri athletes (left to right) Michael Mills, Mackey Tyndell and Krige Schaborg practice to compete in a triathlon.

Bruce McCarthy (ENLARGE)

Scott Hollenbeck demonstrates the proper 'pushing' technique.

Mills was already wheelchair racing, but Lenhart challenged him to step it up in early 2007.

"I was training [rolling along Columns Drive in Cobb County] when he rode up beside me on a bike and said, 'Nice chair. You ever thought of doing a triathlon?' " Mills recalled.

Triathlons are races involving three sports — swimming, running and biking. Disabled athletes swim, use racing wheelchairs instead of run and ride hand-cranked bikes.

Lenhart was a stranger to Mills, who tried to give him the brush-off. But Lenhart was persistent.

"It kind of intrigued me," Mills said. "Why was he wanting to help someone out who was disabled, when he was not disabled?"

So he began to listen.

Lenhart, an associate publisher of Competitor Southeast magazine in Atlanta, told Mills of his idea for starting an organization to pair disabled people with coaches and other athletes. He had noticed the number of athletes without disabilities were increasing in triathlons, but those with physical limitations were not. He wanted to encourage disabled athletes' participation.

As a West Point graduate, Lenhart said he first thought of starting the nonprofit to help returning veterans who lost limbs or ability from war wounds. He could not find an organization to do what he was thinking of, so he started one.

"I just wanted to do my part to provide an active lifestyle, if I could," he said. "This is something that I've got some skill at. So, this is my part in life."

He founded Getting2Tri to encourage athletes whose injuries or illnesses limited their bodies, but not their spirits. The organization provides training partners, seminars and a forum for disabled athletes.

He recruited athletes he got to know at events or on the road.

Lenhart recruited triathlete Suzanne Elbon of Decatur to serve on the nonprofit's board of directors, as well.

Elbon, 46, lost an arm to bone cancer at 5 years of age. For her 40th birthday, she decided to get in shape and start preparing for a triathlon.

"I like to refer to the athletes I meet as 'my people,' " said Elbon. "When I am with them, I am not the exception. I am part of the group.

"It's given me a way to accept myself."

Getting2Tri hosted its first training seminar in March 2007 at Georgia Tech. Twenty-four athletes from around the country came to train under volunteer coaches and learn from each other.

Jason Fowler, a paraplegic from Smyrna, said he began wheelchair racing shortly after a motorcycle accident left his legs paralyzed 17 years ago. But he learned by trial and error.

Working with Getting2Tri helps him learn new techniques. It also gives him a chance to pass on what he has learned on his own.

"Getting2Tri is like a conduit for people to share," Fowler said.

Lenhart hopes his next training seminar will draw 100 athletes. He wants to start chapters in cities around the Southeast.

Mills said had he not met Lenhart that day on Columns Drive he probably would have never considered a triathlon.

Initially, "I thought maybe I would do just one to get this guy off my back," Mills recalled.

He tested the idea earlier this year by participating in a team triathlon: He was part of a three-man team and did just one leg of the sport. Now, he is excited about tackling all three segments in his first full the last weekend in April.

"After I did that one, I thought, why not just do it on my own?" Mills said.

For information, Getting2Tri.com