Saturday, October 12, 2013

Two roads diverged

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
- Robert Frost, The Road Not Taken

I went out running today and came upon this fork.  I've run past here dozens of times, but this is the first time after the leaves had changed.  I remembered Frost's famous poem, which all 8th graders in Shenandoah had to memorize.  So, I followed Frost's advice and took the road less traveled by (the fork to the left), but it did not make a bit of difference as they both exit at the same place.

I'm two weeks out from the marathon.  I've finished the super long runs and reached the "tapering" stage.  Today, my long run was only 9 miles.  What's that phrase, "The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist"?  Well, I'd say the greatest trick ever played was convincing me that running 9 miles wasn't that far.

More exciting than the marathon - really, a lot more exciting - is that Sara visits in two weeks.  She's coming out here to cheer me on (without her support, I don't think I'd be doing this) and then will stay for a week.  The trip will celebrate our one year anniversary which is on Thursday.  It's hard to believe that it has been a year since our first date at RFD in Chinatown, but it's been a fantastic year.  We both will be working during the week (Sara's firm has an office in Frankfurt and assuming I'm not furloughed by then), but plan to go to Brussels for the weekend.

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