Her ambition for 2017 is a simple one: to start, and finish, her first marathon. For Karen Malinowski, the clock is ticking.

“I'm turning 40 this year, so I figure, why not?” said Malinowski, an attorney from Towson. “I've run seven half-marathons so people say, ‘Why not run a full one?'?”

A whimsical goal it is not.

“It's not that easy,” she said. “In fact, it's very scary. I'd like to run either the New York City Marathon, or one in Richmond. They're both in November, and I'm worried already. I'm going to need all of that time to train.”

Like other recreational athletes, she made her objective a New Year's resolution.

“It's important to set goals, ambitious ones, and to tell people about it so it can be a team effort — and also because then you can't back down,” said Malinowski, a member of the Baltimore Road Runners Club. “They can cheer on my little milestones and pick me up when I stumble, figuratively and literally. My parents think I'm crazy; they don't think I should run 26.2 miles. They don't think anyone should run 26.2 miles. But I know they'll be there, cheering me on.”

Another fish story: Five years ago, off the coast of Costa Rica, Donald Bradley hooked his dream fish: a blue marlin estimated to weigh 300 pounds. This year, he's out to do it again.

“That's the largest fish I've ever caught,” said Bradley, 70, of Roland Park, who has fished the world over. “I fought him for 21/2 hours with a fly rod and a 20-pound test line. I drank lots of water to keep hydrated. Finally, I released him — always do — but it would be nice to catch one that size again. Three hundred pounds is something to be proud of.”

Few blue marlin go bigger, though the largest on record weighed 1,805 pounds. Though he has returned to Central America several times, and to the spot of that catch, Bradley has yet to repeat his old-man-and-the-sea moment.

“I have bad arthritis, but if I'm physically capable, I would really enjoy it,” the retired banker said.

Setting sail: For three years, Josh Semiatin has coddled his sailboat, learning the ropes and taking day trips from his slip in Middle River. Now, it's time to lower the boom. Come May, he plans to sail to Cape Charles, Va., at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay — a six-day, 380-mile round trip that he knows will tax his nautical knowledge.

“I'm going to discover the Chesapeake in reverse,” said Semiatin, 35, a psychologist from White Marsh. “It's in my backyard, and it's silly to live here and not explore the world around me — the ports, the coves and the stuff you can only see by boat.”

Both captain and vessel, a Catalina 27, seem up to the task.

“I have the sailing skills to do this,” Semiatin said. “I know how to anchor, read the weather and provision the boat. I haven't sailed at night, but I'll practice beforehand. I have a life raft, a radio to call the Coast Guard and towing insurance, in case there's no wind and the motor dies.”

He anticipates a milestone voyage aboard the Elizabeth Ann, the 27-foot boat named for his fiancee.

“Part of the reason I'm going to Cape Charles is that I can actually enter the ocean,” Semiatin said. “My boat isn't really built for that, but in fair weather, I'd like to have a couple of hours to experience it. It's time to let loose and see what's out there.”

Run fast, run far: Ronnie Wong has completed 322 marathons, including at least one in all 50 states. What could be left on the bucket list of the 70-year-old Catonsville runner? Setting age-group records to last a lifetime.

“It's important to have goals, and mine is to set marks that will never be broken,” Wong said. “People look at me and say, ‘Better give up, better quit.' But I like to experiment and do something that others can't, so that the next generation can follow me.”

First up: The Sri Chinmoy Six-Day Race, in New York City, in April. Run over a 1-mile loop, the event will test Wong's endurance as he attempts to break the American six-day record (ages 70-74) of 335 miles.

“No problem,” he said. “I once ran 331 miles in five days. When tired, you run with one eye open and other closed.”

Then, in November, he'll tackle the JFK 50 Mile in Western Maryland in an effort to beat the time of 8?hours, 57 minutes — the current record for runners age 70-79. Wong's best time in that ultramarathon is 8:55 in 2013.

A fool's errand? No way, Wong said.

“I know my body, and I love the challenge,” he said.

Back in the saddle: The classy racing bicycle sits in Janet Roa's basement, gathering dust, a reminder of good times and bad. In 2014, while training for her umpteenth triathlon, she crashed head-on into another cyclist on the BWI Trail and was rushed to the hospital.

“I remember the collision, going airborne, the blood coming from my head and the huge hematoma that formed on my left leg,” said Roa, 48, mother of three and an occupational therapist from Fells Point. “Nothing was broken, but that accident messed with me; it shook me up more than I thought. I went back out on that trail, but I couldn't ride it. I had to walk. I couldn't get down in that [racing] position and go fast.”

So there her bike sits. But not for long, Roa promised.

“At this point, it's getting ridiculous. I need to suck it up and get over this,” she said. “I might do a 50-miler this summer and some good centuries [100-mile races] in the fall.

“2017 is the year to get back in the saddle.”

mike.klingaman@baltsun.com

twitter.com/MikeKlingaman