field of dreams...

i discovered my own personal field of dreams today - hickory hill park in iowa city:

http://www.hickoryhillpark.org/map.htm

i remember hearing about this place from my rowing coxswain back in my undergrad days, but, somehow, i never quite got around to checking it out. inspired by the mention of h.h. park in last month's outside magazine, i decided to head out there for a run this morning. after all, the park is approximately two blocks from r.'s house and i happened to be in iowa city for an overnight.

let me tell you that this park kicks some serious butt - several miles of trails cutting through the woods, up and down hills, over streams, and across gorgeous prairies. i had tons of fun except, of course, for the fact that this 6-mile run almost killed me! this flat-as-a-pancake city girl is not used to those up and downs. regardless, what a day!

as i wove through and across the single-track trails, cutting myself on low brambles and ducking under low hanging limbs, i found myself repeating the lines:

"Two roads diverged in a wood, and I, I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference."

i realized that this was literally - and figuratively - true. not only had i chosen to try out a new trail, but i had driven solo to iowa city to have lunch with a complete stranger. in fact, i've increasingly found myself taking the road less traveled by - in school and in life. and, for at least today as i sit back here in chicago exhausted but happy, "that has made all the difference."


The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost

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.