The road less travelled

I was running Friday and I noticed something. Actually, I noticed it again, but it finally made sense to me. The "greeway" bike/running path made a 90* right turn to skirt arount an office complex. The path "wandered" as it went around. I noticed a younger runner going straight through the complex, running through the parking lots and dodging the rush hour traffic of the employees trying to get out for the weekend. My route around was much longer, but there was no traffic and the path even had some elevation change! (big deal in the Red River Valley of ND). As I thought about the other runner, it occured to me that I used to be the other runner. I used to be soo focused/worried about where I was going; the shortest path was all I had time for. Now, I have evolved (I hope) to a different paradigm where the journey is more important than getting there.

Given that I am a Penguin runner, I think this is a healthy outlook. I am never going to be happy if I am focused on the end results; I am too old and too slow to run winning times, with PR's , records, etc. Instead, I need to enjoy the journey. . .

By the way, my running log has a space for mileage ran, not "where did I get too." I was coming back from the "other-side" of that office park and the scenery and running conditions over there were pretty poor (broken pavement, lots of cars, open to wind, etc.) Going the long way got me to my goal (mileage) with a better route, a better view, and a more enjoyable run.

Frost talks about the road less travelled, that's what I took and "it made all the difference." The only thing is, I realized that the joy is not from it being "less travelled." What makes this path better is the journey, and it can be shared without ruining it. In fact, it would be great if everyone took this route; the road more travelled was also the best route to run!