Happy New Year! Our Plan for 2025

“If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail” -Benjamin Franklin.

I would call this my New Year’s Resolution for some years, but this is a more goal-oriented plan.  Last year, my resolution was to take one day at a time.  Ironically, my second book is called One Footstep at a Time.  Autographed copies are still available by clicking here.

RunningwithCat.com

As always, A portion of the proceeds on the sale of this book will be donated to organizations providing support to Alzheimer’s patients and their caregivers.  So far, I have donated over 4,500 dollars.

Cat turns 65 on May 1, 2026.  She has already run a marathon in all 50 states, plus DC, back in 2020.  Last year, we were able to accomplish a half marathon in all 50 states, with Cat running 43 of them and me pushing her in the CatMobile the last 7.

We have done 21 10Ks so far, and my plan now is to have the other 29 done by her 65th birthday.

That is a lot of states in 16 months.  The plan will have to be very aggressive and to pull it off, I will need to modify exactly what I mean by the terms 10k and races.

For us to achieve this goal, we will actually run/walk 6.2 miles in each state.  There may be some actual races thrown in the mix, but mostly, it will just be Cat, I, and the CatMobile at a scenic park in each state. With the weather being what it is, some mileage might have to be done in a nearby mall or the hallways of our hotel.  I am sure Cat will walk a mile or two in each state since she is still able to walk at least 5 miles each day and occasionally a lot more.  I figure it will take all of 2025.  That gives me a buffer of 4 months in case there is a hiccup along the way.

I still need seven states to get all 50 done as marathons.  So throw in there one marathon for me to get my 70th marathon before the end of 2025 for the simple reason that I turn 70 in July.  That marathon and the actual 10K races will be done with our Mainly Marathon Family since they have a no-person left behind policy.

Cat and I averaged 80 stops a year over the last 10 years.  We were nomads for 8 of them.  That all ended in October of 2022, when we moved to Brookdale Senior Living Facility.  We have been still traveling about once a month, but mostly with a paid Travel companion last year.

The budget doesn’t allow that for these trips, and some of these trips will be for a week.  None of the folks who help me with Cat can take that much time away from family or other commitments.

Throw in me, keeping my running of at least a mile a day alive.  It will be two years in March, and it has kept me in tip-top shape.  You can read about that here.

https://runningwithcat.com/run-at-least-one-mile-a-day/

I have averaged 7.5 miles of walking/running for 2024.  I will need it for this outlandish endeavor.  I love numbers and logistics, which it is going to take a lot of to put that many states under our feet.  Good thing I worked for UPS for 27 years.  Logistics is Big Brown’s forte.

“Ain’t nothin’ to it, but to do it.” –Maya Angelou

The post Happy New Year! Our plan for 2025 first appeared on Running With Cat.

Anthony Copeland-Parker Tony

Anthony L. Copeland-Parker was a professional Pilot/Manager for thirty-seven years, the last twenty-seven with United Parcel Service. His last job had him managing pilots and flying B757/767-type aircraft all over the world. When he retired, he began writing his blog, RunningwithCat.com. Since then, he and his partner Catherine have traveled to eighty-two different countries. They have run at least a half-marathon in thirty-five countries and on all seven continents. This is his third book, the first being Running All Over the World, Our Race Against Early Onset Alzheimer’s, published by Newman Springs Publishing. The second is an abridged version published by Morgan James Publishing.