Thursday, March 17, 2016

Making The List...


I've talked a lot about my Bucket List on the blog. Originally my plan was to run 13 full marathons and 26 half marathons, but since I started running I've added Rangar relays and 20 milers to that list. And it keeps evolving as I add more and more races and come up with different criteria to determine if a race is "Bucket List worthy".

So far I've run 13 half marathons and one full marathon, and of course a bunch of 5Ks and 10Ks which don't make the Bucket List per se... but are noteworthy none-the-less because I got a medal ;)
{How I feel when I think about race medals}

Of my half marathons, two were not the "full" 13.1 miles (the Disney Wine & Dine, which was cut short, and the Sarasota Half relay) so I went back and forth with whether or not they should count. Let me just say that my legs felt like I ran the full distance in both events (for different reasons) but that's besides the point... I didn't actually run 13.1 miles for those events.

When I started on my running journey I wanted to do 26 DIFFERENT half marathons (i.e. no race repeats) but, as you know, I've run the Miami 1/2 twice and ran in the Sarasota 1/2 twice. Anyway, I decided to reassess what my goals were for my running Bucket List and came up with new criteria and different Bucket List levels:

Level A* - They all count...
13 fulls
26 halfs
*including relays and races with courses that are cut short

Level B^ - From start to finish...
13 "full" fulls
26 "full" halfs
^run the complete distance myself (i.e. no relays or shortened courses)

Level C*^ - Change matters...
13 "different" fulls
26 "different" halfs
*^unique races only (no race repeats)

Level D** - 39 travel destinations...
13 "states" fulls
26 "states" halfs
**all races in different states (with no state repeats)

Level E^^ - Frequent flyer miles matter...
13 "50/50" fulls
26 "50/50" halfs
^^50% of each race distance will be national and 50% will be international races

It will take me a while to work my way up through each level, but I like to have goals to look forward to [and yes... some races will count for several levels]. First I need to work on getting through all my Level A goals though ;)

I also have other Bucket List agenda items like:
1. Run a race in wine country (it's more about the wine and less about the country)
2. Run a Ragnar relay (or maybe a few...)
3. Run a 20 miler (ditto the comments in parentheses above)
4. Run on at least 5 continents (Australia and Antartica might be a bit challenging to get to so I'll probably skip those)
5. Run all the marathons in the World Marathon Majors (Chicago(done), New York, Boston, London, Berlin & Tokyo)
6. Run the original marathon course in Athens, Greece (this is my dream marathon...the one that got it all started)

What's on your running Bucket List?

Are there any Bucket List races/destinations that you're planning on doing this year?

9 comments:

  1. Wow you're list is ambitious!! In a good way! I think it would be super fun to do a Ragnar one day. I'm afraid of running in the dark though! I've tried to get more information about how those work lol.

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    1. ETA: I meant how the running in the dark part works lol.

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    2. I do my first Ragnar in June!!!! It's the Chicago one (I think we still need a team member actually so let me know if you're interested). The running in the dark is hard but as a team you hand head lights and lighted vests and ALOT of reflective gear. I plan to train to run at different times of day so that I'm as prepared for that as possible :)

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  2. Wow, that's a detailed list! I think your categories are pretty cool!

    My bucket list is short. There are a couple destination marathons I'd like to run and a few people I'd like to run with...but that's about it!

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    1. Thanks!!!! What are some of your dream destinations?

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  3. i dont have a specific detailed list or anything but i want to run at least one big race a year..dont know what or when it will be this year. you are just awesome for being able to squeeze in all that runs.

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    1. Thanks! A lot of my friends about talking about the Philly marathon this year. I'm trying to plan for other Fall races but I'll do Philly if those don't work out :) What big races have you done so far?

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  4. A friend of mine ran the original marathon in Athens last year and said it was awesome but super challenging!

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    1. Wow nice! I heard it's challenging too...hilly course and I think It gets kind of hot (although I'm in Florida so that probably will be less of an issue for me). Have you ever thought about doing it?

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Thanks for your comment!