My Running Bucket List - Updated for 2014

After a lot of thought I have decided to move some of best of my old posts from Aging Runnah and A Runnah’s Story blogs, primarily the old reviews, maybe a few of the better posts and race reports that I have written over the years. I have a feeling that at some point, my WordPress.com blogs are simply going to go away and I want to still be able to go back and read some of the stuff I wrote.

If you are reading this blog post, that is why it is has been re-posted here.

Originally posted on: January 14, 2014

Every year I update my running bucket list, to reflect things that I really want to do over the next year and beyond.

This year I have reflected a lot about who I am as a runner and as a result have taken out a lot of the things that are not who I am or no longer important to me.

• Run a 5K with Mary.
• Qualify for the Boston Marathon
• Run in a race with Katie and Nate
• Run with my grandkids

Places to run

These are different courses from when I lived or worked in these places. I want to go back and relive a bit of my personal history.

• Coast Guard Group Portland to Bug Light O/B
• Coast Guard Air Station Cape Cod 5 mile loop (if I can back on the base)
• Airport Loop, St. Ignace, MI
• Washington D.C. during Cherry Blossom time, not necessarily the Road Race
• The "Bitch" Loop, Groton, CT
• Munjoy Hill Loop, Portland, ME
• Gunnison Beach Loop, Sandy Hook, NJ
• Along the Charles River - Boston, MA
• Acadia National Park Loop, Bar Harbor, ME. - I have gone to Acadia and been riding/driving along this loop since I was a little boy back in the early 60's. It is just one of those things I want to do.

Races to Run

• Run to Home Base - Fenway Park, Boston, MA. - I have been a Red Sox fan since the days of the "Impossible Dream" season and being able to combine my passion - running, with going to Fenway, would be something very special.
• Boston Marathon as a "legal"runner. A promise made a long time ago.
• Beach to Beacon - Cape Elizabeth, ME. - I live in Maine and this is probably Maine's biggest running event, I only want to do it once.
• Falmouth Road Race - Falmouth, MA. - Something that I always wished that I had done either of the two times I live on Cape Cod, but never did. Especially back in the late 70's, that would have been special and it will be when I do it.
• Grandma's Marathon - Duluth, MN - It is a race that I have read about for so many years and it would mean that I would also be seeing my girls and the grandkids.
• An Ultra Trail Race - No particular one, it is just one of those want to do it things.
• CGAS Cape Cod 10K - Otis ANGB, MA. (if they still have it)

I didn't include too many items on this list that require me to either travel very far, simply because I don't travel very often, I am just too much of a homebody. Except to go to Minnesota every couple of years to see the girls and my Grandkids.

People

Sitting down and having beer and pizza with:

• Bill Rogers
• Frank Shorter
• Rod Dixon
• Joan Benoit Samuelson

I think the names speak for themselves.

The reality is

To me running is not just about races, but also about people, places and creating memories, when/if I do the things on this list, I will definitely have created some new memories.

You know something else, as get older, my bucket list, seems to keep shrinking. No, it is not so much that I have done all the things on my previous lists. It is more that the things that I used to think would be cool, fun or interesting to do as a runner, no longer hold a lot appeal to me or they just are not important.

I am finding out that the biggest thing that I want to do is simply just keep running, smiling and enjoying the journey that I am on, wherever it takes me.

How about you, do you have a bucket list? Do you find it changing?

Are there any things that as a runner, I really need to do at least once in my life, that I have not added to my list?