Call him obsessively competitive if you'd like. But family and a meticulous focus on goals is John Howland's secret to a full and happy life.
As a bird watcher, he's 34 birds shy in his bid to "chase" 2,000 species. As a runner, he's four records shy of achieving 20 records for his age group in Missouri. As a musician in his church band, he's constantly striving for that perfect performance.
"I've always been a self-challenger," he said. "I've just been goal-oriented from early, early on in life. I remember my father challenging me to see how fast I could run around the perimeter of my block. That was probably as a 6- or 7-year-old."
He takes on jigsaw and Sudoku puzzles "just to see what I can accomplish in what time."
After earning a bachelor's degree in aquatic biology from Kansas State University and a master's degree from Colorado State University, Howland took a job in the field of water pollution/aquatic sciences at the Missouri Department of Natural Resources in 1973. He worked at the Missouri Department of Transportation for eight years until retiring in 2000, when he started doing consulting work part time. He's been fully retired now for two years.
That gives him and Debby, his wife of nearly 50 years, time to spend with their two children and three grandchildren, in addition to other interests.
The United States has about 900 species of birds. To find more, he's traveled to Africa, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, and South and Central America. While Debby isn't into birding, she has accompanied him on various trips.
Howland hopes to get out of the country later this year and hit the 2,000 mark of birds he's seen and documented.
The internet has furthered the hobby by allowing fellow bird enthusiasts to post when and where they've seen certain species. That helped him with his rarest find: a Himalayan snowcock near Elko, Nevada.
"I knew that they were there because I found reports online that people had recently seen them at the park where I went," he said.
Waking up early to make the drive to a state park, then hiking for 40 minutes to get to the specified location paid off. After being there just 10 minutes, he started hearing the birds' turkey-like clucking sound before actually seeing a pair of them.
"I was quite pleased with that bird," he said. "I can't tell you the number of times I've chased on a report and gone after something but got there too late or not lucky enough to see the bird."
Howland started running as an adult. Since then, he's racked up 16 records for his age. He has records in races ranging from 2-13.1 miles - a half marathon.
Just a month ago, he ran a 20-kilometer race (12.4 miles) in 1:42:53, breaking the previous record for 71-year-old men by 20 minutes.
"I had a great day," he said.
When he's not birding and running, he's often playing the banjo in Missing Pieces, a band that plays mostly at First Presbyterian Church.
"I've always been musical. I've loved to sing back as early as grade school," he said.
The bluegrass/gospel band chose its name because it plays classic, Christian hymns that have been replaced in church hymnals by more modern songs.
"Will the Circle be Unbroken" is one of his favorites.
"There are lots of great songs out there that you have to hunt to find and that's the stuff we like to play. We play them and people say, 'That's a song I haven't heard for years.'"
He enjoys seeing the smiles on the faces of his congregation at First Presbyterian, but he and his fellow band members also thrive on that desire to achieve perfection.
Only time will tell whether he achieves that elusive perfection in different areas of his life. But he's having the time of his life trying.