Running Bucket List

A lawyer friend of mine is turning 50 soon. And she plans to celebrate the year in the most amazing way. For her 50th year, she is writing a list of 50 new things to try during the year. Some are very simple like drink a margarita on Cinco de Mayo (she's not from SoCal!). Others are awesome - a romantic vacation in Italy with her husband. Some are crazy - skydive. Some are related to her kids. And one will take her all year to accomplish - run a marathon.

What an extraordinary way of celebrating a milestone birthday! For my last milestone birthday - 30 - we piled into a party bus and toured a bunch of San Diego breweries. Three people puked and one got a concussion - neither Penny nor I engaged in either deed. But we did carouse - you can see it in our eyes - we just know how to hold our liquor, for the most part . . . (Champagne and tequila shots are not a good combo - but that's another story!)

two little runners before we were two little runners on my 30th birthday!

So the 50th birthday list got me thinking of my own bucket list. I even watched Bucket List (Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson) as research. A cute movie, definitely worth checking out (streaming on Netflix!) But their bucket list was kinda dude centered - racing cars, African safaris, etc.

So when I was brainstorming my own bucket list - sort of a depressing thing actually - I was coming up with a lot of running-related items. To get my mind off of the depressing realization of my mortality, I abandoned thinking about the heavier things and just focused on a narrower list about running. Although there would be some crossover onto a real bucket list, e.g. numbers 1 and 9, on the running-related front, here is what I came up with:

1. Run a marathon (coming soon in 2013).

2. Run an ultramarathon.

3. Run a hard core trail race (but not hard core enough that I have to figure out how to work a compass).

4. Run Ragnar annually!

5. Run a Halloween race in costume with Penny. Kristen as Buffy the Vampire Slayer (blond). Penny as Faith, the evil Vampire Slayer (brunette). See the resemblance? ;)

Lots of shall I say interesting "fan art" searching Google images for Buffy and Faith;
I don't know why that surprised me!

6. Run a destination race in a cool spot - Hawaii, Big Sur, or somewhere in Europe?

7. Run Boston, NY, and Chicago.

8. Run on every continent (except Antarctica).

9. Organize a charity race.

What's on your running bucket list?

LR#2
Kristen