I heard about it from a fellow back-of-the-packer during the Grizzly Half Marathon in 2010. A few weeks later, I signed up on my 64th birthday. The group called itself Half2Run. It posed the goal of running half marathons in half the states. It was fun and funny and didn't take itself nearly as seriously as those crazy 50-staters. I also bought a cheetah print running skirt that day, figuring that at least I could look fast along the way.

I was drawn to the goal, but wondered whether I could realistically aim for something that ambitious "at my age." I did the math. I had been averaging one or two half marathons a year for ten years. I could check off six states before adding three states per year to finish by my 70th birthday. That sounded do-able, but was it? My parents were both gone by age 60. I had no basis for knowing how long my body would hold up. And there was the cost of travel to consider. How many states could I visit before my physical and fiscal bank accounts were overdrawn? I signed up anyway. Daring or dumb? Time would tell.

I have provided periodic Half2Run updates in Reflections, and have been recurrently amazed by the rich and diverse experience it has offered. I have bee through anxiety and relief, challenge and victory, long slogs and surges of delight. Now, nearly five years later (and, indeed, before my 69th birthday) the goal sparkles as it comes into view. I have to overcome superstition and the specter of jinxing the outcome to publish this issue before crossing the finish line. But I am doing it anyway. Confident or cocky? Time will tell.

God willing, this is the time. God willing, this is the place. God willing, I will finish the Hapalua Half Marathon this morning in Honolulu and check state number 25 off the list. I have so enjoyed seeing this event on the calendar. Lyle and I are using the occasion for two weeks of subtropical adventure. Shannie is making me a new running skirt in a black and orange Hawaiian-style floral print. Buddies from all over are cheering me on. I look forward to writing again when it is over and "on the books."

For now, if you are reading this on Sunday April 12, I will be starting at 6 am Hawaii Standard time (10 am Mountain Daylight). It should last three hours or so. I hope to savor the experience without rushing to the end. I will enjoy knowing that some of you are reading this while I am still out on the course, buddies from afar.

But that's not all. Today I am also celebrating the 300th issue of Reflections, and anticipating its sixth anniversary two weeks from now. I look forward to writing more about that later. In the meantime, I expect to publish a "re-run" from the past next Sunday, while I watch the sun rise over the Pacific from our cabin on Kauai.

When have you set a "stretch" goal, not knowing whether or not it could be achieved? How did it turn out? What did you do if the challenges proved insurmountable?