Friday, January 25, 2008

Out of the Box List

The Bride Jane and I were cruising on a dream vacation in 06 to celebrate 30 years of wedded bliss. Two college sweethearts that met on a blind date. We were on a 15 day cruise to such ports as Barcelona, Florence, Naples, Venice, Rome, Athens, Mykonos, Istanbul and several other places. It was an intoxicating thrill each and every day. Intoxicating because of the sensory overload due to seeing so many incredible sites....historical and biblical. It was the trip of a lifetime.
One day we were lounging by the pool on the cruise ship.
Bride Jane
"We should both make our own Out of the Box list". She blurted out.
Dense Husband
"Huhhh" I cleverly shot back.
Very Clever Bride Jane
"Yeah. Things we always wanted to do but are afraid to even think about doing"


So we did. The rule for me was I could not just name all these endurance things I have wanted to do. I will provided the "Endurance list" later, but she was serious in wanting us to think "out of the box".





Fast Forward to late 07 and early 08 and Jack and Morgan and the movie "The Bucket List".



Two guys trying to experience things..outrageous things before they "Kick the Bucket".

I will only divulge one thing from the Brides list because she would kill me if I spilled the beans. One thing was to learn to dance all those hot dance techniques we saw on "Dancing with the Stars" So that was on her list and also on mine.

Here are a few "Non Endurance Sports" items on my list.

1. Smoke a Cuban cigar in Havana
2. Ride a train through the Canadian Rockies.
3. Speak Spanish fluently. (smart, as I interview many Latin American ballplayers)
4.. Run with the Bulls in Pamplona
5.. Read all of Shakespeares works
6. See the village where my Grampa came from in Slovenia

There are many more on the list. I admit I have a huge part of me that wants to explore as much of the world as possible. I love to read about all cultures, and religions. My love all things about the globe was spawned when I was little. I was always reading. Somewhat shy. Much apart from the guy who makes his living talking to people on the boob tube. But, if I could make a living writing about world travels like Colin Thubron, I would. In a heartbeat.



http://www.amazon.com/

Colin might be the best adventure writer on the planet. Read the book "Shadow of the Silk Road" and you'll be transfixed. He journeys the greatest land route on earth, the Silk Road. Out of the heart of China,,westward to Kurdish Turkey. 7,000 miles in 8 months. It was a veritable "Tour De Chance". Sidestepping government goons and showing the real people of the various countries . Its not just the adventure. Its his prose. He turns a phrase like I turn an ankle.

In some ways, those of us who compete in demanding sports like triathlon, cycling, running, swimming are world travelers. But the world we travel is ourselves. We explore the depths of desire to win. We climb mountains of emotions. We hop a train on the express to endorphins and we never, just never are satisfied that we have totally tapped the reservoir of our beings.


Ahh, but that Endurance List???.. I will write down my alltime #1 and in succeeding posts, I will reveal more.

1. Race the Ironman at the Mecca. (Kona) 3 Ironmans in non-dot-m races might be one thing, but getting to Hawaii would be the ultimate. Can anyone rig the lottery so I can get in???

Whats your Bucket List??? eundurance or otherwise??

23 comments:

Anonymous said...

I like your list and your wife's dancing one on her list!

We also saw that movie...it was cute!

hmmmm...my bucket list would include sky diving, base jumping off something really high, see the Swiss Alps, do an Ironman, run the Big Sur marathon, learn to ride a Harley and take a road trip west!

Triteacher said...

Wow, very fun to read about. You've read all of Shakespeare?? Serious kudos. Did you run with the bulls? And speaking Spanish fluently is never to be under-rated. It comes in handy all the time in my profession too. (In fact, just today I got a new Spanish-speaking student!)

triguyjt said...

thanks ladies...
base jumping, cindy???wow you have some guts

triteacher---
I covered the bulls (chicago vs cleveland cavs) does that count?? I have yet to run with them..but i will do that.

going to Mayan culture in march..know any cool things to explore (cancun)

rocketpants said...

Thanks for the link!

Top of my list? I would love to make it to 6 of the seven continents (all seven would be cool...but not sure how i'd pull of Antarctica, been to 4 so far) and trek through Nepal and see Everest basecamp.

Brian said...

Funny. Our passports expire soon and we just said we should renew because as soon as the kids are old enough we are traveling. I second the idea on doing the ironman in Kona. I heard from someone that did it that it's better then the olympics. But I'm not sure how he can compare it as I don't think he was in the olympics. Dancing and reading all of shakespear? Not so much. But then again all things can change in 10-20 years.

10 minutes and I head our for my first ultra.

RunBubbaRun said...

I so want to Run with the Bulls in Pamplona, That would be wild..

Concerning endurance sports.. There is a crazy race for everything, I just hope to do some of the crazy stuff out there.

tri-mama said...

I want to work in an orphanage, learn to climb mountains and whitewater raft. I want to drive a '68 Ford Mustang convertible for my 40th birthday-but that's only 4 months away so I don't think that is going to happen.

Marcy said...

What a great list. As for mine? I probably shouldn't say out loud :P LOL JK!

Wes said...

If you ever decide to run with bulls, let me know and I'll send you a shirt with a big bulls eye (pun intended) on the back. No need to thank me :-)

triguyjt said...

wes-
I probably would pull a hammy trying to run from the bulls.

injure myself for racing and get gored in the process. two for one.

The Lazy Triathlete said...

I love it. There are so many more things I want to do that are "outside" the box. Running with the bulls is definitely one of them. Back in 2002, I was hoping to get leave from Afghanistan to go do it. How crazy is that. LOL.

Charlie said...

So last night as I watched the local news, I heard the sports anchor say, "Lets go bungee jumping."

Has this made it to the out of your mind list?.
Anyhow I just thought it was funny that I caught that as I was reading this post.
See you in KONA!

triguyjt said...

charlie-
one needs a mind in the first place...to be "out of it"..

See you in Kona, if not Maumee or Mountaineer or Mentor Headlands..etc

Matt Collister said...

I'd like to make it in to space.

I think the day when regular people can get up there is not too far off.

Kurt said...

I want to see the movie and hopefully will before it gets to late and goes to DVD.

I only want to be back to 18:30 on the 5K before I get to old and cant do it anymore.

Allez said...

Running with the bulls is definitely NOT on my list! Dodging my 85 lb dog without getting trampled can be hard enough!

Anonymous said...

cha...I'm not sure if I have guts or I'm just insane! Would I really do it? not sure...I just think it always looks fun when people on tv jump off a big cliff or do the bungee thing.

TRI TO BE FUNNY said...

I so want to play in a real rock band for just one night!

I'd also love to have an "ellen"-ish talk show as I live to make people laugh!

Born To Endure said...

Bucket list huh..interesting idea..hmmm...well I've always wanted to see Africa on a safari in kenya, Australia's outback, The great pyramids of Egypt..boy what else...there's just so little time. And KONA..helloooo ..yes it's everything one could ever dream it could be. I got in through the lottery and it was sweet...I dream of going back some day...sweet dreams!!

triguyjt said...

shelley has experienced what many of us long for... just one time in Kona..

we can all dream...

Rainmaker said...

I think running with the bulls might impede progress on Kona. Just sayin'....

GetBackJoJo said...

See you at Kona. That's the biggest one for me!

wow. After that my mind is blank. Ya think I'm a little obsessed with triathlon maybe?
-also:
to own a home in maine
to take my kids to Disney
to get a Boston Terrier to keep my old labs company.
Hmm. Mabye I'm not thinking big enough. This might involve a whole blog entry. thanks for making us all think and fantasize!

beth said...

not really out of the box, but my goal in life is to have a 50th wedding anniversary. at a beach house with all our kids and grandkids. and i hope to have lots of wrinkles as proof of many adventures...i better get started, i'm not even married- but hey, if i want to make it to 50yrs, its better to wait for the right dude!