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Bucket list

Bill Johnson of Bavon, has been working on a five-item bucket list for the past 20 years, and with three items ticked off and a fourth coming along, he’s almost ready to start a new list. If his new list is anything like his old, though, Johnson has a long road ahead.

Slender and athletic, Johnson vowed two decades ago to train for and run a marathon and to earn a black belt in one of the martial arts. He also wanted to write a novel, become reasonably proficient in playing an acoustic guitar, and earn his Ph.D. in clinical psychology.

Johnson said he had always liked running but had never really raced until his friend Barbara Payne Shaw talked him into running a half marathon. He said he signed up for the Virginia Beach Rock and Roll in May 2005, trained throughout the summer, and raced on Labor Day.

Acting on the motto that “competence in training builds confidence in performance,” Johnson trained by running regularly and completing progressively longer runs in &...

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