Also, too, the great Ronald Reagan.

Most everyone keeps an inventory - in their brain or leather-bound journal or on their Stickies - of the things they want to do while still dwelling on planet Earth. My earliest such list was permanently recorded in my dear mother's brain when I was five, or thereabouts:

She asked me, "Stephen, what do you want to be when you grow up?"

I replied matter-of-factly, "I want to be a teenager - or a spy."

So that was my 5-year-old bucket list.

Things have changed since then (I have already accomplished half of my life's goals, as you may have already noted). Gradually, that list has morphed into something altogether different. I haven't written it down in some time - an exercise that is healthy for me because I tend to actually do things that I write down - but I assure you it has more than two items. It now has three or something.

I'm not going to write it down here, yet. Maybe someday. The purpose of this post was to report I am in the process of scratching out an item on my list - training for (and ultimately completing) a marathon. As I have embarked on my training regiment, the goal has become more specific - to finish in under three hours, thus qualifying me for Boston.

After a few weeks of training, things are looking up. Three toenails are dead. My knees are starting to ache. I like eating GU. I know what overpronate means.

Wish me luck.

Not sure anyone actually ever reads this part, but here's some good music:
Cardinology by Ryan Adams
Gossip in the Grain by Ray Lamontagne
"Late Night Partner" by Ed Harcourt
"True Love Ways" by Buddy Holly
Bodies and Minds by Great Lake Swimmers