Why My Anti-Bucket List Matters

My Personal Anti-Bucket List

Once Upon a Time, These Goals Beckoned. Times Change. 

I want to share what I see as an unpopular truth. 

Bucket Lists annoy me. 

Maybe it’s because they’ve been around long enough to become cliche.Screenwriter Justin Zackham coined the phrase in 1999, as a way to describe the epic things he wanted to accomplish before he “kicked the bucket”. 

More likely it’s because Bucket Lists remind me of the finite nature of life, and the even more finite nature of our athletic careers. None of us have an infinite amount of time on this planet with which to check everything off our lists. 

With that absolutely brutal truth in mind, lately I’ve been applying a more critical eye to what I include on my own Bucket List. I’ve even had to make cuts to it. I’ve dubbed those items that I’ve cut as my “Anti-Bucket List”: those goals that once held enough importance to me that I was determined to achieve or experience them, but now have been stricken.

People will disagree with these – and even defend keeping them on their own Bucket Lists. But, whether it’s budget, time, diminished desire, or just the common-sense acceptance that it’s no longer practical to do these things, I’ve moved on from these Bucket List to-do’s that are likely quite popular with many.

Everest Basecamp.

When I first wandered into the world of mountain ultramarathons, including some that ventured into high altitude, I dreamt haphazardly about whether I could summit the world’s highest mountain one day. Then I downgraded the goal to merely doing the days-long trek to get to Basecamp. I must admit, the reports of over-crowding, falling asleep to a lullaby of raspy coughing, plus the stories of accumulating excrement, have all contributed to this goal being downgraded to my Anti-Bucket List.

The last straw was learning that 30,000 people (yes, I also assumed this number to be much lower!) visit Everest basecamp each year. My impression is that this trek would deliver a level of zen-like peace akin to a rock concert.   

Start a Podcast

The podcast train left the station a long, long time ago. As of September 2025, there are more than 4.5 million podcasts worldwide. And it’s estimated that there are about 30,000 new ones launched each day! To be fair, there’s always a place for incredible content and inspiring stories, but can we be honest and say that listening to people talk about running or triathlons might not always make for riveting dialogue?

Sometimes it does, but not always. My point is that there are more creative ways to get your story into the world and, if you want to get your tales out there, it’s more important than ever to rewrite rules and think well outside the box. Myself, I won’t be buying broadcasting gear any time soon. Better to work with the likes of the Everyday Athlete Podcast Network or others that already have a following.  

Polar Plunges

I might sound like a miserly curmudgeon with this take, but I cannot understand why people pay money to go to a hole in the ice around New Years every year to jump into frigid water. Often in swimsuits that do not cover nearly enough pasty flesh. Oy. Any one of us who live in colder climes can do this for free and, better, mail a check to a worthy cause. And do it more often, no less!

The benefits of cold plunging have been well-documented in recent years and I’m a big believer in them as a regular component of a weekly health regimen. As long as proper swimwear is worn. 

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Badwater Ultramarathon

On the opposite end of the temperature spectrum, we have this triple-digit slog across Death Valley. Thousands of former Badwater runners will disagree with me on this one, and I would assume there is something transformational about the experience of shuffling 135 paved miles across one of the hottest places on Earth.

At one point, I must admit to being morbidly curious to see if I could do well at this event. After all, don’t we all daydream about taking on such ridiculous challenges? But I moved this event to my Anti-Bucket List one recent year when I reflected on my experience pacing my friend Dean Karnazes at Badwater nearly two decades ago.

Temperatures soared far above 120 degrees, with not a wisp of a cloud overhead. Dean would run one mile, stop at our vehicle, and we’d drench him in ice water before driving another mile ahead. This repeated nearly 100 times during the race. Handheld bottles jammed with ice turned quickly into warm tea. So I guess you could say this race is not my proverbial “cup of tea”. Instead, put me in the trees, surrounded by mountains, with the smell of pine filling the air that feels good in my lungs (instead of deep frying my innards). 

Revisiting Our Youth Sports Glory Days 

As we tackle longer and longer distances, we discover that our bodies are capable of far more than we ever imagined. There’s even a sense of invincibility that can set in. Like anything is possible. Even non-endurance sports. Over the years, in between long runs and triathlon training, I’ve played soccer, flag football, floor hockey, ultimate frisbee, and ice hockey.

In the last few months, I inexplicably accepted an invitation to play softball for the first time in more than 25 years. In our first game, I watched two teammates injure themselves chasing a pop fly and running to first base, respectively. And those are the injuries that hobble us for weeks. Almost more debilitating are the niggles that are felt the next morning, and that can trickle to other injuries.

So, while cross training can be highly effective at building fitness (and having fun!), most people (myself included) tend to not build properly to avoid injury. So I will be leaving my bat, mitt, snowboard and pickleball racket in garage storage. I simply love my endurance sports far too much to DNS my next race because I tried to make it from second to third base the night before.  

Tattoos

Certain races have meant a lot to me: the Leadville Trail 100 and IRONMAN for starters. As body art has come into vogue, and even trickled into the mainstream, I thought. “Yeah, I can understand putting one of those logos on my body forever, especially considering that those can be life-changing experiences.”

I reflected on that goal again at a recent 50K starting line, where two runners brandished IROMAN’s famous M-Dot logo on their calves. But here’s the thing: brands change ownership all the time and logos change. Quite frequently, actually. That happened with the Leadville Trail 100 logo, for example, when the race series was purchased by LIFETIME.

And IRONMAN has changed ownership at least four times in its history. You can guarantee that one of these times the new bosses will want to put their thumbprint on the iconic brand. Brands and races also vanish – yet I hope these storied events never go the way of the do-do.

Further, there have been studies in recent years that suggest links between tattoos and increased risks of cancers. So I will stay with temporary tattoos, thank you very much. 

So, as these goals get relegated to much lower priority, I am excited to shift my sights to those audacious targets that made the cut.

It’s time to get training! 

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