In between cultured butter tastings and winter cocktail samplings, we talk a lot about healthy living around here. We each have our own peccadilloes (cold brew, kouign-amanns, caipirinhas) and penances (SoulCycle, sliding lunges, stair climbing with the trainer for the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders). For the most part, we want to have our chilipanzinga empanadas and fit in our Kiki de Montparnasse leggings with the lace inset, too.
But, despite my best efforts, in a little over a week I will turn 47. I recently realized, four years too late, that I reached my peak at 43. Turns out, life isn’t like a box of chocolates. At least for the first half, it’s more like ascending the Titan’s 255-foot hill at Six Flags.
You know that moment when your car crests and you hang, suspended in time, with nothing but blue sky ahead of you? That’s 43. Then comes the tipping point, when you discover it is all a gut-churning, panic-inducing, fist-clenching, sleep-denying, weight-gaining, nerve-pinching, full-speed descent from here on out. That’s perimenopause.
So, yeah, I’d like to throw some gravel on the tracks and slow this train down. I want to live my best life during my arthritic second half. I’d like to cleanse and look cute in my Bandier leggings and generally be more flexible, personally and physically (like the acro-yoga superstar couple of Max and Liz Lowenstein, shown above and on the current cover). But I’ll settle for a healthy heart rate and more wins on the tennis court.
The latter is the result of my attempt at sports-focused mindfulness with Melissa Marks for our January cover feature, “Build a Better You!” The former is, hopefully, a happy byproduct of said aerobic efforts on the court. Whatever you have in mind for your 2019, whether you’re still on the ascent or well into a 540-degree helix on the way down, we’ve put together an unusual, insightful, and useful guide to local options that can help improve your fitness and performance. More importantly, we hope they make the ride more fun. The cover story is online now.
