Not Too Late: The Power of Pushing Limits at Any Age

by Gwendolyn Bounds

An award-winning journalist tells the inspiring story of her unlikely midlife journey to master the daunting sport of obstacle course racing—a powerful, science-based account of the change possible at any age when we push limits

In her mid-forties, Gwendolyn Bounds attended a dinner party where someone asked a little "What do you want to be when you grow up?"

It struck In middle age, no one asks you that anymore. So, she put the question to herself. The answer set her on an unexpected path of transformation from an unathletic office executive glued to her screens into a competitive age group medalist and world championship competitor in obstacle racing—a demanding military-style sport requiring speed, endurance, mobility and strength. What began as a simple goal to complete a single race grew into a profound five-year quest to reconcile the realities of growing older.

In Not Too Late, Bounds explores how tackling something new and hard upended her expectations for middle age—while also helping the author reconcile regrets of her youth. Her story takes us from playgrounds and gyms where Bounds relearns childhood movements (swinging from monkey bars, climbing a rope) to far-flung Spartan Race courses where she masters running in difficult terrain and conquering challenges such as scaling tall walls, crawling under barbed wire, and carrying heavy loads of rocks up mountains. Through this equally beautiful and brutal sport, Bounds discovers potent tools to combat the mental and physical risks of aging as she makes her way from newbie to the podium.

Bounds’ journey offers inspiration and a roadmap for anyone craving more out of life. Woven through Not Too Late are insights from scientists, longevity doctors, philosophers, elite athletes, and performance experts on how to reimagine our limits and redefine who we think we are. Through Bounds’ story, as she changes her body and mindset, we learn humans' potential to tap inner reserves, face deep-rooted fears, locate intrinsic motivation, and push the boundaries of what we ask of ourselves at any life stage.

Ultimately, one message When unleashing our full potential, age can be a secret weapon.

Genres: Nonfiction, Memoir, Health, Self Help, Sports, Biography Memoir, Personal Development

320 pages, Hardcover

Published June 18, 2024

About the author

also here
http://www.gwendolynbounds.com/events...

Reviews

[Ron S · Rating 4 out of 5]

Journalist Bounds writes about breaking out of her middle aged malaise through participation in obstacle course racing. Progressing from hoping simply to finish an event to being a competitive age grouper, Bounds checks in with leading sport scientists, researchers and authors and details a lot of current thinking about longevity, fitness, health and wellness for those on the far side of 40 plus. Part of the charm here is that Bounds had never thought of herself as athletic, and went through school usually picked next to last for any team during phys ed, or being a bench warmer. This is very much a page turner, and one can't help but cheer her along her journey of self-discovery.

[Darren Hull · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyed this one a lot, although it has made me feel quite lazy.

[Marne - Reader By the Water · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thanks, Ballantine, for offering me an advanced review copy of this memoir. I loved its message about “humans’ capacity to tap inner reserves, face fears, locate intrinsic motivation, and push boundaries at any life stage.”

In her mid-forties, the author outsmarts the “midlife assassin” by choosing an impossibly difficult thing to learn. This unathletic journalist landed on obstacle course racing, “a demanding military-style sport requiring speed, endurance, mobility, and strength.”

Whenever I tried to explain how good this book is, friends would immediately interrupt me and ask knowingly, “So, you’re going to try obstacle racing now?” Hard NO. But I loved Wendy’s approach to trying something scary, new, and challenging in her 40s and 50s. She observed, studied, researched, asked questions, and learned from her mistakes. After all, “If you want to try something new, sometimes the best way is to just dive right in and fumble your way around for a while.”

What worked for her that could work for you? She did her research. She did the work, not just in the gym, but doing the boring mobility and strength drills, too (a requirement for pushing your physical limits at our age). She put herself out there and pushed through the pain and fatigue to finish what she started. She also - and this is key - wasn’t afraid to look foolish. Even when she knew there was a strong chance she’d end up on her butt in the mud, she jumped on the obstacle and tried.

Her grit, determination, and enthusiasm made her an age-group medalist and world championship competitor, and I recommend her memoir. Whether you are athletic or not, her mindset and processes are instrumental in conquering challenging goals. And hey, if it makes you want to drop and do a couple of pushups, that’s good, too.

[Christie Bane · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great, inspiring book about doing something with your life instead of just getting old, slow, fat, and sick. This author was only my (current) age when she found herself, a lifelong non-athlete, looking for a challenge to stave off mortality. She found Spartan racing, a type of obstacle course racing, and jumped into it with enthusiasm. She turned herself into a total badass who eventually competed at a high level. I am addicted to books like this, which reinforce my belief that you are never too old to start something new.

[Sarah A Case · Rating 5 out of 5]

I listened to this book on Audible when I was halfway through my 44th year. At first I wasn't sure about it... but it's excellent. I felt inspired many times and even teared up a tony bit. It also recommends a ton of other books about habits, fitness, and longevity that sound interesting. I highly recommend it.

[Monica · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book! After having a traumatic birth and thinking I would never run again, here I am in the most amazing running journey ever. This book was the perfect timing in my life. Also, it’s just so incredible to read people’s stories and what are bodies are capable of.

[Micha Goebig · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is so inspiring!! I’m already thinking what my next challenge will be.

[Suzanne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Listened to the audio on Libby

[Rob · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. It's about middle age, aging, and life, as much as it is an inspiration to get off your butt and start moving!

I'm middle aged and have been taking fitness more seriously the last few years, after being consistent fit-enough in my 30s. But I've also been struggling with: to what end? What are my goals related to my workouts? Where is this going?

This book answered those questions for me definitively. And gave me a lot more to think about.

Fitness aside, there are just great, insightful quotes about middle age:

There’s a lot of evidence in this book to undermine the clichés of middle age. But one I cannot dispute is the sharpening sense of leaving. People we care about start to leave the world with more frequency. And then there’s the acute realization that we ourselves are going to disappear and no longer be part of the carefully constructed existence we’ve built with everyone and everything we love. And that if we get the privilege of more days, there will inevitably be that stripping away of abilities that make all of us us. We can do things that improve our chances of putting off this final leaving. But there are no guarantees, and as of right now, science has not yet discovered the elixir for immortality. And so our certain, ultimate exit remains a fact. In this sense, I find the story of humanity to be in equal measures the most beautiful and most cruel of narratives. We are born to experience the wonders of life, only to inevitably lose it all.

Wow, that hits.

But...there's hope!

In the area of entrepreneurship, where the lore of the twentysomething start-up founder turned billionaire looms large, research from MIT’s Sloan School of Management found that for the highest-growth new ventures, the mean founder age was forty-five. “Our primary finding,” the MIT research team notes, “is that successful entrepreneurs are middle-aged, not young.” Martha Stewart was closing in on fifty before she signed a deal to launch her eponymous magazine, Martha Stewart Living. The founders of Geico and Home Depot were roughly the same age as Stewart when they launched those businesses. At sixty-two, Harland David Sanders franchised Kentucky Fried Chicken for the first time.

Here I've compiled a set of quotes from all over the book in an order that kind of matches the arc of some of her points. As you can tell, she's a helluva writer.

It’s when that momentum slows, when all the learning and box checking begins to feel no longer progressive but increasingly repetitious (rise, work, eat, family, bills, chores, bed; rinse and repeat) that we become most vulnerable. We sense it when we wake up and when we try to fall asleep. We’re unsettled, slightly bored but too busy to know it, and something is now off-key.
...
The ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle theorized about middle age as being the prime of life, a time associated with having reached full competence and mastery, with the body being fully developed sometime between thirty and thirty-five and the mind at forty-nine.
...
How to fix this feeling was slippery to get my arms around, though, because I’d chosen all of these things—the person I loved, the place we called home, the way I earned money. There were a lot of boxes checked, and I wasn’t interested in unchecking them. I recognize this isn’t true for everyone. For some, middle age may legitimately touch down like a tornado, wiping out what was there before and leaving no choice but to rebuild. This may be needed and even welcomed in some cases, or a terrible shock in others. But because I didn’t hate my existing life or want to blow it up in any obvious way, I wasn’t sure what to do. It was more like a long stretch of overcast days that sneak up and leave you with the dull ache of being inside for too long. You don’t hate your house, but you don’t want to stay in there all the time either.
...
When we ultimately spoke, Setiya told me he too had reached a point in adulthood where, somewhere between securing tenure and writing a second book, he felt a yawning void and was deeply confused about why. “I still liked philosophy. I liked teaching. I loved my students, and it all seemed worthwhile. And yet at the same time, it seemed futile and repetitive to just keep doing it over and over again, writing another paper and teaching another class. And I thought, There is a puzzle about why you would feel like something is deeply wrong with your life when you are doing things worth doing and very fortunate to be able to do them and basically things are going well.”
...
So, what is the solution? Weirdly, the answer seems to be something of a paradox: acceptance and action.
...
Enter the telic versus atelic framework. It’s not about action for action’s sake, Setiya believes, or cramming more to-dos into our already full lives. Rather, it’s about making room for activities or pastimes that bring lasting existential value to us versus focusing on only those whose value may wane once completed. This is the difference between an atelic and a telic activity—the words being derived from the Greek word “telos,” which means “end.” A telic activity, Setiya explained, is designed for immediate or finite gratification and has a definitive ending, like eating a good meal, writing a report, or taking a vacation. By comparison, an atelic activity is in service to something greater that delivers ongoing internal fulfillment, like listening to music or practicing your fly-fishing cast. You’ll never be totally finished, and that’s the beauty of it. In middle age, when you’re turning toward endings, such atelic activities can be far more fulfilling because they aren’t finite.
...
Now, thanks to Setiya, Austad, and Hutchinson, I could see very clearly why I’d been a sitting duck for the midlife assassin: FOMO, for starters. An incessant focus on finite telic activities and unsustainable—and ultimately unsatisfying—benchmarks for productivity. Disconnection and distance from family. Inertia. Sitting. Screens. Too much comfort. Too little discomfort. It all made what came next make a whole lot more sense.

To get to the fitness, Wendy, for kind of arbitrary reasons, starts obstacle course racing, specifically in the Spartan groups. She starts by fumbling her way around things, eventually finding a gym and folks to train with. She keeps at it, and becomes one of the best in the world her age. It's an incredible journey.

The journey, though, is the point. NOT how good she got. The podiums and whatnot do not matter.

One ancillary benefit, which she describes in greater detail in a way that's satisfying to read, is around her own time management. As her interest in fitness increased, she had to make room for it, and it really forced her to figure out what mattered. Lots of things had to drop or be optimized.

Equally treacherous are the “time-suck slices,” as I come to think of them. These are the five-, ten-, and fifteen-minute expenditures of energy on little tasks that randomly occur to me throughout the day. Ordering new water pitcher filters on Amazon, replacing a lightbulb on our lamppost, making a dentist appointment, remembering we also need AA batteries and going back on Amazon. All the little adulthood necessities that seem like quick to-dos, particularly because many are now just a click away on my phone or computer. But they prevent me from finding concentrated blocks of time for anything important. Instead, I begin making lists and bucketing these activities for defined hours of specific days.

We all have more time than we think we do. We're just not using much of it well.

She also found that having something outside of work that she did consistently really helped stabilize her at work.

But as my former colleague Joanne Lipman, the author of Next!, put it to me, “Having an alternate identity is really protection for yourself.” And she is right. My identity as a competitive obstacle racer acts like a shield against the barrage of what-ifs that come with hard decisions.
...
As I get better at something hard and once seemingly out of reach, the sense of empowerment permeates the rest of my world. For the first time in my adult life, work is no longer the first and last thing on my mind when I awake and go to sleep. After I close my eyes at night, I replay different foot techniques of rope climbing in my mind instead of chewing on the annoying thing my colleague said in a meeting. I make my points to co-workers with increasing confidence, including that guy who always interrupts. (Dude, I can climb a seventeen-foot rope!) My decision-making sharpens; I answer emails when they land in my inbox and don’t punt until later. Maybe it’s a byproduct of making quick choices like where to place my foot on the rocks while running. Or maybe, with my training, I simply don’t have as much time to waste. My body is changing too. T-shirts once loose in my shoulders no longer fit comfortably. At night I sleep so hard, I barely wake up to use the bathroom. The baby calluses stop peeling off and become permanent grown-up calluses. I begin to track my resting heart rate at night with my watch and note that it has dropped to a low of around forty-nine beats per minute from the high fifties. My physical energy levels are the most robust I can remember since my early twenties. The long stints of sitting around conference tables during meetings at work make my body increasingly restless. I start standing behind my chair, trying to ignore the perplexed looks from our chief financial officer. Soon, I notice, our chief digital officer stands up too. And then our head of testing as well.

These are just some highlights. The book is well written, fast-paced, and just a joy to read. I can't recommend it enough.

[Viv JM · Rating 4 out of 5]

As someone who took up a niche sport (powerlifting, in my case) in midlife, I found this an interesting and very relatable read.

[Beth]

I confess, I did not read it. I started it and put it down. At 88 years old, I believe in what she is doing but that means reading about it is more than I need to do at this point. I'd rather spend my time on some other topic but picked it up at the library to check it out. I agree with her rational regarding exercise and food and am glad she experienced that. I walk 3 miles per day and eat the right foods.

I wish there was a category here where one could tell about a book they picked up and did not finish and the reason why.

[J Kromrie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for this eARC.

📚 Gwendolyn Bounds’s “Not Too Late” is a powerful and inspiring exploration of what’s possible when we challenge our perceived limitations.

In this science-based memoir, Bounds takes us on her remarkable midlife journey—from an unathletic office executive to an age-group medalist and world championship competitor in obstacle course racing.

 Bounds’s story begins with a simple question: “What do you want to be when you grow up?” She realizes that middle age doesn’t exempt us from redefining ourselves and pushing boundaries.

The heart of the book lies in her pursuit of obstacle course racing—a demanding sport that requires speed, endurance, mobility, and strength. Through playgrounds, gyms, and far-flung Spartan Race courses, Bounds relearns movements, faces fears, and conquers challenges.

Woven throughout are insights from scientists, longevity doctors, and performance experts. Bounds’s transformation becomes a testament to human resilience, intrinsic motivation, and the untapped potential within us, regardless of age.

Gwendolyn Bounds’s writing is relatable and exhilarating. Her journey resonates with anyone seeking more out of life. As she changes her body and mindset, we learn that age need not be a barrier—it can be our secret weapon.

For those craving more out of life, “Not Too Late” offers inspiration and a roadmap that is powerful and exciting.

Whether you’re contemplating a new challenge or reconciling regrets, Bounds’s story reminds us that pushing limits is timeless. Age is not a constraint; it’s an invitation to unleash our full potential.

Sometimes the most transformative journeys begin when we dare to redefine ourselves. 🌿🏃‍♀️

[Jenny Temples · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was such a timely read for me. I’m in my mid forties, realizing I’m not getting any younger. I never considered athletic endeavors until really getting into hiking in the past five years or so, aside from yoga DVDs in the living room and stroller walks around the neighborhood. Every year I complain that I haven’t improved on my hiking game, going longer or stronger. This book opened my eyes to the fact that it isn’t too late, I just need to make some changes and really push myself. It doesn’t happen magically.

I’ve never highlighted as many passages and references as with this book. She did an excellent job of giving more information for further research and reading. My only complaint was that the recaps of each race became a little repetitive for a reader who doesn’t know a single thing about the obstacles. I may need to watch a video of a race so I can picture what she’s talking about. However, at the same time she really illustrated the mental obstacles and emotions she was also facing during the race.

Overall a great read, very motivational!

Thanks to Gwendolyn Bounds, Ballantine/Random House and NetGalley for the advance copy!

[WendyLikesBooks · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fantastic book for older readers, such as Gen-X'ers. Wanting to get out of her mid-life rut, Gwendolyn (Wendy) gets into the Spartan obstacle course circuit after Googling 'what is the hardest thing to do?'

As a kid (and adult) who was only mildly athletic, Gwen started at Step 1 - Point A, to eventually becoming a podium placer.

The best thing about this whole mid-life athletic exploration is she wasn't trying to become a professional to get paid by the sport. She trained to become a better version of herself for herself, particularly after her beloved dog died and a skin cancer diagnosis.

She made it over many obstacles (literal and figurative) to realize that just because she's getting older, that doesn't mean she should give up on her goals, particularly her physical fitness goals.

This book was quite inspiring and I hope everyone over the age of 40 reads it.

Thank you NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for an e-copy of NOT TOO LATE to review.

I rate NOT TOO LATE by Gwendolyn Bonds four out of five stars.

[Maria · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve always been fascinated by the Spartan Races and Tough Mudder so I thought this would be an interesting story. Gwendolyn Bounds doesn’t do anything halfway and her story is truly inspirational and motivational; I will admit I got home and did extra burpees because she inspired me to try harder. While I will never compete in those races (I don’t like being timed), I completely understand her mindset and the need to achieve more while we have the time to do so (it’s why I travel as much as possible). Her drive to succeed really is inspiring although being tall and lanky (her words, not mine) might not make her the best judge of what is considered heavy for us shorter folks; 5’6”, 165 is not the behemoth she makes it out to be (and if it is, I am just shy of behemoth), but other than that, this was fantastic and gave me a new perspective on so many things she touches on. Bonus points for adding in descriptions of the obstacle course to give a better understanding of what the races entail.

I received a copy from #NetGalley for an honest review.

[Megan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really wanted to give this three stars but the writing is good. It’s the topic I have a problem with. She finds herself suffering from midlife boredom with her life. She needs something new and really really hard. So she Googles, what’s the hardest thing you can do?” Google tells her it is Spartan racing. Not opening a business, not winning political office, not making real change in the world. Nope, Spartan racing. And she’s off.

Her life becomes all about Spartan racing. She buys equipment that takes up lots of room without telling her partner in advance. Trips are focused on racing. All of her time is spent training. This is not for the Olympics or for a future paying gig- although she probably planned to write a book about it all along. It’s not even something she was vaguely interested in before Googling it. So it feels like we are watching a reality show about someone who decides to do something physically hard because- well, why not- and films herself while doing it.

The fact that people do Spartan racing was new to me and she wrote well- so 4 stars.

[Jonathan Dunkle · Rating 5 out of 5]

"What do you want to be when you grow up?"

When the author hears a little girl being asked that at a party, she wonders why no one asks that of people when they get older. Approaching her fifties and faced with some tough life situations, she decided to take up obstacle course races, specifically Spartan-branded ones. This book traces her evolution from non-athlete desk worker to age-group race winner and international traveller.

As someone who has always asked myself what I want to be when I grow up and has found himself in his final year before senior citizenship still asking that question and pursuing new endeavours, I found Bounds' story inspiring and comforting. I'm not going gently into that good night and it was good to read about someone else who was willing to against the supposed limitations of old age and find success and enjoyment in new challenges.

While Bounds' story is of her "middle-age" years, her book is worth reading by those of any age for there are always supposed limitations and constraints against which we can push our limits.

[Heather M · Rating 5 out of 5]

I know everyone says this, but seriously, I could not put this book down. Not Too Late: The Power of Pushing Limits at Any Age by Gwendolyn Bounds is so well written that you feel like you’re running along side her in the Spartan Races.
Even if you have no desire to run obstacles of any sort, this book is still for you because Gwendolyn’s words will motivate you to just take a good look at your life when you feel like you just want to give up, and just keep pushing through, do not stop.
I had just turned 50 and felt like I was at a stand still. But reading this book made me feel like I still have so much more I can be doing. Each chapter is broken up into sections like the obstacles of the Spartan Race much like the obstacles we face in life. I was given an advanced copy from Netgalley, but have bought a hardcover for myself to turn to when I need motivating again. And will also buy family and friends copies as gifts.
Thank you Gwendolyn (Wendy) from the bottom of my heart.

[Kimball · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this story in the WSJ so I decided to read more and checked out the book. It's not that good like her little followers are raving about. And that's saying something coming from me who's done more Spartan Races than her. She's very fortunate to have a friend like Earl who supports her in the Spartan races.

I wonder if she got any money from Spartan Race for writing this book.

The midlife should be the best time of our lives when our minds are heightened and we still have our physical facilities.

The difference between your 20s and 40s is that you know what is and what isn't dispensable to you.

That lake Tahoe swim was so freezing. I've done it.

How to pivot when things don't go as expected and to be content.

I need to look at the company called SmartNews since they're based out of Tokyo.

[Sara · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was excited to read this book since the author and I are close to the same age and I am a late to life athlete as well. I loved reading about her journey to Spartan success. It was truly inspiring. It was nice to read about someone else struggling with time management, taking care of elderly parents and dealing with health issues of their own. This weekend I have definitely taken her advice about finding time for yourself throughout your week. I have unsubscribed to so many emails! The author gives great references throughout the book (some I have already read) relating to athletic performance and also life in general. I think anyone but especially older, women will love this book.

Thank you NetGalley and Random House for the copy of this book.

[Emily Lemmon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyed this timely read as I just entered into my 40s. Appreciated the facts and research thrown in to support/push forward her story and that all the science was JUST based on fitness, but general mental and physical well-being as we age. I took great inspiration from her revelations and have convinced my husband to also read this book.

I personally went a little glassy eyes the further it got from her initial stages of racing and getting out of the rut. But, this made up a small portion of the book. This is only because at this point her narrative COMPLETELY became foreign to me as a mom of 4 aged 12 and under and not at a point in my life where this sort of thing can become my sole focus.

[Janet · Rating 5 out of 5]

Quite possibly the most inspiring book I’ve ever read. So well written. I wish our society valued members who are on the “wrong side of 40” more and this book was just an amazing testament to what a human with focus, grit, and determination can achieve, no matter what age they are & what they've accomplished in the first half of their life!

If you want to feel like you, too, can be a total bad-ass, even in “middle age," or if you've ever found yourself thinking/saying, "I'm not THAT old..." or "middle age isn't what I thought it would be," or if you're just stuck in a rut & need some inspiration, read this book!

(Spoiler alert: if you’ve ever had to put down a beloved pet, specifically, a dog, a section of this is probably going to be difficult for you… Just a heads up.)

[Annie Oortman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another excellent read-by-the-author Audible listen was “Not Too Late: The Power of Pushing Limits at Any Age” by Gwendolyn Bounds. Throughout the almost 10-hour listen, Bounds passionately takes you through her transformational journey from athletic blob to world-championship Spartan Race competitor. Although 10 years younger than me, I could relate to the physical and—more important —mental changes that occurred as she pushed her internal bounds to excel and achieve dreams Bounds once never thought possible. If you’re looking for motivation to stop feeling your age and start experiencing life, this one is definitely worth the “read”.

[Lissa00 · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars. This book came at the right time. I am almost exactly the same age as the author when she first discovered obstacle course competitions. It is humbling to be middle aged but to want more from yourself physically. I appreciated the author’s honesty and openness about her experiences competing. At times, the sections about the actual races was monotonous but it was interspersed with inspiring insights about aging and mortality. I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley.

[Heather Bode · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic read, especially as an obstacle course racer myself.

Gwendolyn Bounds writes personally and beautifully, telling her story while weaving in facts, information, and inspiration about what we can do as we get older. Even if you don’t run OCR, it’s a valuable read.

But as an OCR athlete, this book resonated so hard with me that I found myself getting emotional many times. I recognize the lessons, inspirations, failures and successes so well. I read this book exactly when I needed to, when I was questioning myself about whether or not I was done.

For anyone who is feeling lost, or worried, discontent, or unsure as they approach middle age, I highly recommend this book.

Glad I own it. Will definitely be a re-read.

[Mikala · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pleasantly surprised with this memoir / self-help story! Among all the blustering and braggadocio of the books and names you’ve already heard (Tim Ferris, Dave Asbrey, Rich Roll), sneaks in this rewarding, honest and heartfelt story. The type A overachiever realizes her humanness, faces it independently with overzealousness and humor, and finally accepts and celebrates life and her community in all its messy glory.
If you are an endurance athlete, animal lover and nature appreciator, I think you’ll especially enjoy this read!

[Becky Stowe · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book has a great story about a regular person becoming the best version of herself by starting something hard called obstacle racing. The author introduces the reader to the world of competition by relating her experiences of being a middle aged person who desires something more in life and takes us on her journey to change. Many of the characters in this book are relatable and inspirational.

[Frank Stapleton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Change is inevitable, growth is optional

Weaving science and her experience with obstacle course racing, this book is an inspiration to “get in the arena” and create a life worth living. FEAR: FalseExperienceAppearingReal keeps most people on the sideline. Wendy’s story inspires us to ACT: hold ourselves Accountable, make Choices, and Track our progress. Do yourself a favor and “don’t stand outside the fire”

[Nadine · Rating 4 out of 5]

File that one under aspirational but not likely to happen.
Want to know how all those super buff super fit people get there - hard work determination enough cash to spend on good coaches and giving up slouching around at home.
But very interesting and also provocative on how you want to live the latter half of your life.
Worth a read.

[Lauren W · Rating 5 out of 5]

I see so much of her in me. This felt like an echo of part of my life. Loved listening to this audiobook so much. Even though she’s centered around obstacle course racing, so much of her physical and mental training and her lessons very much apply to mountaineering. Such great learnings about health and well being and pushing yourself.