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Approaching milestones and dealing with them

Over the weekend, I had to go spend time with 15 friends to celebrate the 29th birthday of a friend. We're sort of at that age where we are going to cross that invisible threshold that marks 3 decades on god's green earth. Somewhere between the lamb and the tiramisu, we kept coming back to trying to figure out a way to make our mark on the big 3-0. Since this also happens to be the time where some of us are settling down to a married life (I missed one wedding this summer already and am hopefully not too late for at least one next year; and one friend took out his phone and showed around the 3 month old baby's pictures), I get the feeling we are in sore need of some validation for our almost 3 decade reign here.

A lot of the conversation hung around going to Vegas or Mexico for the next stag, but I am convinced that there is more to it than a stag. I have a list of things I have wanted to do in life and some day I hope to do them. I am going to list them here in the hopes that if I see them, I will try and work towards them. So here's my list:

  • Run a marathon
  • Run the 2010 Vancouver Sun Run and beat my previous time (~55 minutes in 2004)
  • Learn to ride a motor cycle
  • Become a certified diver
  • Do the West Coast Trail
  • Try Surfing
  • Train for a triathlon
  • Do more hiking
  • Learn to ski
  • Travel
  • Go fishing
  • Buy my first place
This list is by no means a complete one and isn't ordered in any particular order. I would like to start accomplishing some of these soon enough, but some will take longer (like the West Coast Trail or the motor cycle one). As you can tell, most of these have to do with being in better shape. That is an unstated implicit goal for me as well. I was probably the fittest I ever was the year I started working for my current employer (way back in 2004!). I did miss out on the a lot of the running and hiking and it is time to pick that up again.

What are your goals? Have you met them?

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