Getting My Bounce Back

A middle-aged author shares her fitness journey, showing readers how to make time to exercise, get inspired to get fit, and be more confident and happier.

You don’t have to run a marathon to be fit and healthy, or suffer through a triathlon that includes a half-mile swim in the ocean. But you do need an exercise habit. Especially as we age, exercise is not optional. Yet unless we had been athletes as kids or young adults, and few of us were, we do not know how to find our edge. Learning how to carve out time to meet our fitness needs or to push ourselves physically and mentally is one of the greatest challenges to aging well.

Inspired by her popular blog “Be the Dog,” Carolee Belkin Walker shares her story of what it’s like to be a successful professional woman encountering all things fitness for the first time. Even if readers have never put on a pair of running shoes or repeatedly tried to develop a fitness habit, they’ll relate to the highs and lows of Carolee’s journey from the back of the pack to stumbling on a path to resilience and well-being.

You could fit two Carolees inside what her body looked like in February 2014. But it is the powerful sense of confidence and resilience that’s had the greatest impact on her and inspires others. This book is about her digging in, discovering who she is, and seeing how far she can push herself to be strong, fit, healthy, and most important, resilient. Carolee’s writing is full of humorous situations as she decides to be an active participant in life and not take the setbacks, or herself, too seriously.

Praise for Getting My Bounce Back

“An autobiographical account of achieving physical fitness in middle age . . . . An upbeat, accessible account of one woman’s decision to make her body stronger and her life healthier.” —Kirkus Reviews

“Most books and publications just show the end result, as if we magically appear at the peak of fitness and ideal look, but Carolee allows us to peek into her inner mind, showing us that there is a journey behind those photos . . . . For anyone who has ever wondered why everyone else made it seem so easy, this book is for you.” —Tina Muir, elite runner and host of the Running for Real podcast