Walking and running

I've gotten pretty well entrenched in the latest book I'm reading, Bill Bryson's "A Walk in the Woods," a book I highly recommend.
Anyway, it's about his trek on the Appalachain Trail, which stretches from North Georgia all the way up to Maine. Even since high school, I thought it would be fun to try to walk the trail, but I guess I never quite got around to it. It is quite an undertaking, not to be taken lightly. While reading this travelogue allows me to walk the trail vicariously, sometimes vicarious isn't good enough, and it sets the travel bug in motion.
I was in the hiking and camping section at the local sports store, and it got me to thinking how much fun it would be to plan a trip like that and then to actually do it.
The travel bug hasn't stopped with wanting to walk the trail. It's reawakened a desire to explore...there is so much out there I want to see that I don't even know where to start. I have to balance my dream of travel with the reality of everyday life. This means I have only a few weeks of free time to play with (seeing as how I am an "adult" with a real job now).
My buddy and former college roommate Greg have made it a bit of a habit in May or June to meet somewhere around the country to go explorin'. This year we are expanding our boundaries a tad and will head off to Europe for a few weeks. Can't wait to start planning.
Another thing I thought of today, and anyone who knows me will most likely start laughing and thinking I'm crazy, is to run in the New York City marathon. I'm not really a "runner" (heh. understatement) so to speak, but if I set entering that marathon as a goal, I might be able to organize a plan to get me there...something to shoot for. I doubt I'd even finish it, but who knows. It would be quite something to say "I ran the NYC marathon."
I told my brother and he started laughing. Then, he looked right at me, and with a straight face, said "If you enter that race, I'll give you $200." I have a slight feeling he doubts my intention. Heh.
Silly, silly brother. Taking an easy $200 from him would be motivation enough. :)