I had grand designs that maybe in the last week of the year I’d do kind of a “Best of…” post or a couple of such posts and re-post the best pictures of the year, link back to my favorite entries…that kind of thing.

For the first few months I was meticulously doing record-keeping of my posts and then after I started working out of the house more I just cut that activity for time.

What I decided to do at the end of the year instead is this, because really at its heart it is a summary of all of the great little things that happen in the course of the year so without further ado:

26 Things I’m Looking Forward To In 2026

Writing Related

We’ll start in the realm of writing. I’m very much looking forward to 1) what happens next with my book draft, and since I’m not going to be doing this every day, 2) the type of writing that takes the place of this - does it involve the daily planner? Maybe it’s whatever iteration of the book writing there is.

Running Related

3) A new running calendar is going to take form eventually for 2026, and I’m also 4) looking forward to doing more with the running club, some of which may qualify me for the 5) 2027 Boston Marathon Lottery. There’s the 6) NYC Half Marathon in March, possibly the 7) live Peloton class in New York I couldn’t make work in 2025, and a full new year of 8) parkrun.

I hope to do a better job in 2026 of 9) posting on Instagram - running will be my main content. (You can follow at the link at the bottom of the page, if you don’t already.)

Sports Related

Every new year brings with it the hope that 10) maybe the Jets won’t suck. (I believe in Aaron Glenn.) 11) The Mets will certainly be interesting in 2026 after all their changes. It was exciting last year - maybe in 2026 12) the Knicks will make another deep playoff run. There’s also a bunch of great world competition coming in the new year with the 13) Winter Olympics, 14) World Cup, and 15) World Baseball Classic. The Olympics and WBC will play a major role in getting us to baseball season, when I will certainly 16) go to Citi Field, a highlight of any year, and who knows, maybe a first if I 17) go to a SEC football game at South Carolina.

Family, Friends, and Other

Speaking of South Carolina, there’s 3 more years (at least, I guess?) of 18) seeing my daughter at her college, and the rest of the year there’s 19) just general good family time to look forward to. There tends to be an 20) excursion with a friend, whether or not it revolves around running, though it generally does these days.

There’s a new year of 21) movies, including a couple of highly-anticipated Marvel movies with Spider-Man and a new Avengers movie, and 22) new seasons of those TV shows I love like Daredevil and Only Murders In The Building.

In 2026 it sounds like I’ll have an opportunity to 23) deliver a guest lecture to a college class, which I’m excited about. And there’s so much else to be excited about - 24) starting fresh with all of those things in a year I look forward to, like Puzzle Mania, or 25) the great events over the course of a year like birthdays or holidays or Opening Day, and finally, there are always 26) the unknowns that turn into a highlight that you never saw coming.

I might write about them somewhere or maybe you’ll just find them on Instagram.

But I’m looking forward to see what 2026 has in store.