The Blog Less Traveled

Well, I’m going to start a new category today – the “Bucket List”. I’m sure you’re all familiar with the term. It’s a list you make of all the things that you want to do before you “kick the bucket.” There was a movie by the same name that came out in 2007 and starred Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman. I just got the movie recently and watched it with my wife the other day.

I began thinking of compiling a bucket list last Fall. I don’t recall ever thinking too much about one before that. As you grow up, especially in your teenage years and early adult life, you don’t worry a whole lot about the future. There’s a certain feeling of immortality in those years and the idea that you’re going to die someday is pretty much pushed back into your subconscious somewhere. As you get older and begin to see more of your family, friends and acquaintances passing away, the idea of dying becomes more relevant. I think I’m at that point. The below bucket list is certainly not the final one, by any means. It’s more of a first cut of things that came to mind, initially. They’re not in any particular order. I’ll probably add more things as they come to mind.

Do you have a bucket list? If so, what sort of things do you have?

Bucket List

• Run a marathon (completed 10/18/2009)
• Run the Boston Marathon (completed 4/19/2010)
• Watch a shuttle launch (completed 4/5/2010)
• Go to Mt. Rushmore
• Go to Australia
• Go skydiving
• Hike the Grand Canyon
• Compete in a triathlon
• Attend a session of Congress
• Go white-water rafting
• Ride in a hot air balloon
• Celebrate my 50th wedding anniversary
• Walk my daughter down the aisle
• Have a grandchild

Another bucket list item bites the dust. I completed the Boston Marathon last Monday. After raining on both Saturday and Sunday, the weather cleared up on Monday. The temperature was about 45° at the start and warmed up to about 55° by the end of the race. It was a little windy in spots, but all in all, a pretty good day for running. The race started in the little town of Hopkinton at 10am. My wife and I stayed at a hotel near this town and I took the hotel shuttle to the starting line. I arrived there at 9am and spent the hour or so before the race in the Athlete’s Village. The village was located on the grounds at the local school. There were several big white tents with bagels, bananas, power bars, coffee, Gatorade, water, etc. Music was blaring, the sun was shining, and there were hundreds of porta-potties for the runners. Just before the start of the race, a group of fighter jets from the local military unit flew overhead and made it to Boston in just about 4 minutes (cheaters!).

About 30 minutes before the race, they came on the PA system and told the runners to start heading for the starting line. The Athlete’s Village is about ¾ of a mile from the actual starting line. As you start the walk, you can feel the excitement and tension building. As you near the line, you enter your starting corral based on your bib number. When the race starts, it may take a few minutes before you actually begin to get into a racing stride, depending on how far back in the pack you are. With around 25,000 runners, it’s a little crowded, particularly at the start. As you’re running and looking down the racecourse, it looks like a solid wall of humanity with little heads constantly bobbing up and down. The first couple of miles are a little bit crowded, but after that, things spread out enough to where there’s plenty of room to run without constantly bumping into each other.

The run went pretty well during the first half of the race. At the 13-mile mark, you pass by Wellesley College. I think just about every girl there had a sign that said, “Kiss Me.” They were all there cheering us on and it was a pretty loud group of ladies. There were several guys that did take the girls up on their offer. However, since this was Hillary Clinton’s alma mater, I politely declined their offer. At the 14-mile mark, my calf muscles started to lock up on me. As some of you know, I injured my back two months before the race and I couldn’t run for a whole month. I was only able to run a total of 60-70 miles over the 2-month period leading up to the race. Most runners training for a marathon will run that much in only 1-2 weeks. My muscles just didn’t have the strength built up in them to handle a 26-mile run. For miles 14 to 23, I would run until my muscles cramped up and then walk until they un-cramped enough to start another short run. By the 23rd mile, my calf muscles completely locked up and I was unable to run any more. I then finished the last 3 miles by walking as fast as I could. When I got within about 100 feet of the finish line, I made my best impression of a running movement, and crossed the line with my arms raised up in victory.

Considering my situation, I’m pretty pleased that I was able to finish the race. It would have been nice to be more competitive, but it just wasn’t meant to be. I managed to get a copy of me crossing the finish line from a video feed from the local NBC station in Boston. The video below isn’t the greatest quality, but you can see me hobbling across the line.

One week from tomorrow is the 114th running of the Boston Marathon. I got my official Boston Marathon race packet in the mail last week. My bib pickup card is what you see on the left. I’ve decided to run in it, after all. I was able to get an 18-mile run in about 10 days ago and a 10-mile run in last Saturday. The 18-mile run was a tough one, but considering the little training that I’ve done over the past month, it was bearable. Like I said in a previous post, I’ve given up on trying to run any kind of competitive time. I’m just going to be happy if I can finish it.

Hopefully, a week from now, I can say that I successfully completed it. As much of a physical challenge that this race will be for me, I’m still pretty excited about competing in it. Running alongside half-a-million cheering spectators is not something that you get to do every day. It’ll definitely be an experience to remember!

Within Temptation is a Dutch band that hails from the Netherlands. Their musical genre can best be described as symphonic rock. There’s definitely a good dose of orchestra backup on many of their songs. They began as a musical group back in 1996 while they were still in college. The main singer is Sharon Den Adel and she has an outstanding voice with quite a vocal range. They’ve released about a half-dozen albums so far. In 2008, they performed live with the Metropole Orchestra in Rotterdam and released an album called Black Symphony. Based on some of the video recordings available on YouTube, it was a pretty spectacular event with quite a pyrotechnic display throughout the concert.

If you’re looking for a little change of pace in your musical repertoire, this band is definitely worth a listen. Some of their videos are pretty cool. Below are three of my favorites.

• Mother Earth
• Jillian (I’d Give My Heart)
• Deceiver of Fools (This song has a long intro but it gets really good about 2:10 into the song when the French Horns start.)

To go to their official website, click here.