By the time I'm 40...

The title says it all. By the time I'm 40, I want to...damn, that's only five years away. I had another birthday last week that put me one step closer to 40. I remember going to my Grandma Spoon's house as an 8 year old to celebrate my mom's "Over the Hill" birthday and it seems so long ago. My mom wasn't old then, so why was she over the hill? Hell, she's barely old now.

How can I be only five years from 40? I look in the mirror and still see the teenager who jumps off the roof of his parents house to go sneak some beers with his friends. I see myself holding my baby nephew for the first time and being worried that I would break him and now he's a 5'7" 13 year old who will be learning to drive before I can argue about it. How can 40 be this close and this far away? Aren't people supposed to have their lives figured out by this stage?

Had I written this when I first graduated from college, I would have had 17 and a half years to fill in the ellipses behind the number 40 in the title. Had I done so the day Randy passed away, I would have had almost 13 years for that same space. Had I written those words on July 4, 2010, I would have had almost 9 years to figure it out, but instead I'm writing them today, a mere 1,820 days away from my 40th birthday.

So, here's my birthday resolution for my 35th birthday and some of the goals I plan to accomplish before my 40th birthday:

• I plan to not only earn a Masters degree in Sports Management but also a doctorate. That's right, only 40th birthday, we can all celebrate Dr. Farr.
• With that doctorate, I plan to be a professor. Preferably at the University of Texas, but I understand that there are other schools that need teachers.
• I will run at least one full marathon a year between now and then in hopes of getting faster and...
• Qualifying to run in the Boston Marathon April 15, 2019, 3 weeks before my 40th birthday.
• If I cannot meet the qualifying time requirement of 3 hours and 10 minutes, I will plan to raise enough sponsorship money to run in the race, but that is only as a last ditch effort. Qualifying is going to be my first goal.
• I will also learn a new language
• Master calligraphy
• Visit Scotland, Ireland and England

This list will inherently grow as I continue to evolve and as much as I regret not setting goals for myself earlier in life, I am glad I now have the clarity of mind to be able to see and enjoy the future that lies ahead of me.

Time to get to work, I suppose, because that clock keeps ticking regardless if we want it to or not.