Featured Over 50 Athlete – Maggie Joslin

Meet this week’s over 50 athlete, Maggie Joslin, 67.

When you meet Maggie Joslin, you might not guess that this elegant beauty is a revolutionary.  But she is.  The daughter of a Detroit police officer and housewife and a product of a Catholic school education, Maggie broke free of her traditional background and set her own path.  She attended law school and soon joined a national law firm and became partner. She defied the odds and managed to balance life as a mother to two children, with the demands of being a partner in a busy public finance practice.

Maggie broke more ground by becoming one of the first female managing partners of the Atlanta office of a major law firm.

While most of her peers continue to practice law into their 70s, Maggie again set her own course and left the structure, prestige and power behind to strike out on adventures with her husband, Don.  She spends her time enjoying the things she loves – books, her garden, continuing to learn (from in depth world issues to bridge), her friends and traveling the world.  She has visited more than 15 countries in the five years since retiring! She and Don have cruised the Amazon River, hiked Machu Picchu, visited the middle east, hiked in Yosemite, traveled to Europe and many places in between.

Her fitness goal is to sustain regular (daily or near daily) moderate exercise – Pilates, yoga, weight training and bicycling.  “I exercise to feel young(er) (it really works!) and stay fit and healthy.”

Her next adventure is a trip to northern Spain to hike 110km/68 miles of the Via de la Plata, an ancient commercial and pilgrimage path that crosses the west of Spain from north to south.  They will hike an average of 15 miles each day for five consecutive days, and then celebrate with a week in Barcelona!

Maggie’s advice to someone over 50 starting an exercise plan is set up an exercise schedule and treat it like a part time job, something she learned in Younger Next Year for Women by Chris Crowley and Henry S. Lodge, M.D.  It is not voluntary – it is your job!  She also advises “explore different activities until you find ones that appeal to you.”