Bucket List Progress

2012 was a good year for my Forty Before Forty Bucket List.  I completed a much-needed bucket list revision to reflect changing priorities and lifestyle and marked 6 items off the list. With that, I’m over half-way finished with the list… and I’m only 33!

At the beginning of December I was able to check “Take my parents on vacation” off the list when my Mom and Dad came to Hawaii for a visit.  It helps to live in a vacation destination! The Gentleman and I gave them a tour of the island, fed them traditional Hawaiian food and otherwise played vacation host and hostess.  They were our first visitors here in our new home and it was SO fun to watch their faces when we showed them our beautiful Koolau Mountains, big surf on the North Shore and the incredible, world-renowned Kailua Beach just steps from our house.  Can’t wait for our next visitors in February!

Truth:  My parents are in great shape and not only kept up with our regular physical activity but straight-up wore us out. The couple that stays fit together, stays together!

On December 9, I checked off “Run a Marathon” after jogging through the Honolulu Marathon.  I’ve already re-capped this, but left y’all hanging about my next running goals.  In 2013, I hope to 1) Run one or two more half-marathons.  I really, really enjoyed that race distance and want to get a few more under my belt.  There’s a fun one in Honolulu in March! 2) Knock a lot of time off my pace.  I already have as evidenced by a 5K at 8:30.  I’m hoping to drop that down to sub-8:00 before year’s end and am currently working on this goal with lots of intervals!  3)Find another marathon.  Yep.  I know I said I wasn’t going to run another one, but I really really want to see how I do if I run one in a normal marathon climate (think 50-60 degrees instead of 80).  I may not actually run it in 2013, but I’m going to decide which one – perhaps Boulder, where my brother and his family live?

I’m going to also check off “take up yoga” and “learn tai chi” because I’ve been doing yoga about 2 days a week  (really helps with the running, y’all) and I’ve 1/2 way learned basic tai chi via DVD.  Tai Chi, by the way, is a lot more difficult than it looks, but really enjoyable!

I can also speculate about which items I’ll check off in 2013.  Here’s my best guess:

1. Read the whole Bible.  My church has been going through a reading plan that accomplishes this goal.  I’m behind because  we moved here mid-year, but I’ll get it done!
2. Wrangle a herd of animals from atop a horse.  I’m hoping this will get done in New Zealand.  The Gentleman and I are planning a farm-stay trip there sometime this year…. hopefully in the Fall!
3. Reread War and Peace.  It’s pretty silly that I haven’t done this already.  Now that I’ve finished all the available “Song of Fire and Ice” books, I’ve got time to do this and will.
4. Take a Photography Class.  Just gotta nail down which one!
5. Organize all my photos. This will be a beast of a job, but it’s really got to happen.
6. Be able to do 20 pull-ups.  I almost had this a while back, but got derailed.  When we moved we lost our in-home pull-up bar, so I’m way behind now, but I’m going to knock this one out stat.

What goals do you have for 2013?