Most mothers entering their mid-forties consider it exercise enough chasing kids around all day.

Then there's my friend and San Ramon neighbor, Gena Harper.

As I've mentioned in previous Patch articles, Gena defies one's preconceptions of a blind person. In her twenties, she turned heads as a competitive downhill skier.

In her thirties, she made headlines becoming one of the country's only blind, female senior execs at one of the biggest financial management firms in the U.S.

Now, in her forties, she's intent on making news again. She was recently selected to participate in a week-long boot camp for Paralympics' wanna-be contestants.

This time, Gena hopes to become a competitive cyclist.

The Cycling Camp, sponsored by the U.S. Association of Blind Athletes and other nonprofit organizations, aimed to help Paralympic hopefuls like Gena understand more about what it will take to become successful competitors.

One of only two blind participants, Gena flew to the U.S. Olympic Training Center and Memorial Park in Colorado Springs, Colo. last month.

Never mind that she's never competed in serious bike races before.

Never mind last time we rode together up the steep end of Windemere Parkway, we both huffed and puffed like 80-year-old, 6-pack-a-day smokers.

Now, all of a sudden, she's decided she's not too old to become an Olympic, okay Paralympic contender. She says, "I love a challenge, and I love the outdoors, so why not?"

And you know what? I have every reason to believe she'll do it.

Her plan is to hire a professional coach and get a suitable stationery training bike smart enough to electronically track her progress.

She plans to ride 2.5 hours a day inside the comfort of her home. For now, her big goal is to find an appropriate (preferably non-vision-impaired) female partner to ride with her.

The athlete she chooses will "pilot" the front end of a tandem bike, and off they'll race.

Just two days back from the camp, she already had resumes to consider for that.

From now until June, she plans to train five days a week, modify her diet, track her stats and send progress reports to a Paralympics coach in Colorado, hoping he'll eventually decide to pick her for the U.S. Paralympic Cycling Team.

The weeklong camp she attended, she explains, served as a sort of primer to give her an idea of what to expect. Turns out: It will be hard, she will be hurting a lot, there will be lots of Advil to be taken.

What she learned from the camp was that, "You have to push yourself beyond extreme pain and misery — and give a lot more than you think you can. That's what it will take for me to succeed."

It helps, Gena says, that she tends to perform best under pressure. "I'm very motivated by goals."

How will she find time in the day to fit it all in?

"I'm an early riser. I'll fit the rides in before work or later at night — I'm lucky I can do most of the training at home."

The question remains, why on Earth would such a successful executive, a 47-year-old, single mother of two, who volunteers as a San Ramon Girl Scout Troop Leader, serves on the S.F. Board of Lighthouse for the Blind and for many other causes...why would anyone so busy, so ... close to my age, attempt something as ridiculously challenging as this?

She laughs: "Because I think I can do it, and if I'm right, I'm hoping it might inspire and motivate other people to pursue their dreams."

Even if she doesn't make the Paralympics Team, she says, her training will allow her to participate in other competitive U.S. and International races.

Besides, she adds that she's pretty sure if she follows through with the training and dieting, at a minimum she's bound to lose the 10 pounds she's been trying to lose forever.

Sure, there might be easier ways to do that, like, oh, let's say ... not eating as much. But that wouldn't be nearly as exciting.

And not nearly as Gena.