Join us for an author talk to celebrate the launch of Gwendolyn (Wendy) Bounds’ latest book, Not Too Late: The Power of Pushing Limits at Any Age. Cold Spring’s Cali Schweikhart (elite obstacle course racer) will join Wendy in a talk moderated by Highlands Current reporter Brian PJ Cronin. Books will be available for sale by Split Rock books and registration is requested. This program is presented by the Desmond-Fish Public Library, Split Rock Books, and the Highlands Current.

RSVP here! 

About the Book

In her midforties, Gwendolyn Bounds attended a dinner party where someone asked a little girl: “What do you want to be when you grow up?”

It struck Bounds: In middle age, no one asks you that anymore. So she put the question to herself. The answer set her on an unexpected five-year path of transformation from an unathletic office executive glued to her screens to an age-group medalist and world championship competitor in obstacle course racing—a demanding military-style sport requiring speed, endurance, mobility, and strength.

In Not Too Late, Bounds explores how tackling something new and hard upended her expectations for middle age—while also helping her 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 strives to master running in difficult terrain and to conquer challenges such as scaling tall walls, crawling under barbed wire, and carrying heavy loads of rocks up mountains.

Bounds’s journey offers inspiration and a road map 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 who we think we are. Through Bounds’s story, as she changes her body and mindset, we learn about humans’ capacity to tap inner reserves, face fears, locate intrinsic motivation, and push boundaries at any life stage.

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

About Gwendolyn Bounds

Gwendolyn Bounds is an award-winning journalist and author whose career spans influential media brands including The Wall Street Journal, ABC News, Consumer Reports, CNBC, SmartNews, and more. Her first book, Little Chapel on the River, earned wide acclaim for its poignant portrayal of life inside a small-town pub after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Raised in North Carolina, Bounds now lives in New York’s Hudson River Valley.