Trails

This morning, I returned to Percy Warner Park for another run on one of the horse trails there.  It was an exquisite fall morning, rolling fog and temperatures in the low to mid-40's.  There was a flurry of activity at the entrance to the park on Belle Meade Boulevard, a melange of walkers, runners and bikers.  

I've enjoyed running on the horse trails the last two weekends, in part because I haven't run them before and it's a little bit of an adventure to run where I haven't run before.  There's the fear of getting lost, which in my case, is a legitimate fear (I've gotten lost in Percy Warner Park before, although that was almost 20 years ago).  Plus, the trails are fairly hilly and technically difficult, given that the carpet of falling leaves covers roots and loose rocks.

I only saw one other runner on the horse trail this morning, so I was able to enjoy my run in solitude, alone with my iPod and the random songs from my music library playing on it.  The scenery along the horse trail on which I was running was almost breathtakingly beautiful, bright sunshine burning off the fog and illuminating the gold leaves on the path that had changed color and fallen from the trees.  

A couple of miles into the run, I sensed movement to my right, just off the trail.  I looked over and was almost face to face with an 8-point buck.  He just stood there, placidly, and stared at me, maybe 10 feet away.  I chuckled to myself, said hello and kept running.  I turned around at the 3-mile mark and on the run back to the trail head, I saw a shadow out of the corner of my eye, moving overhead.  I looked up in time to see a large owl swoop majestically in the sky above me, then land in a tree nearby.  I stopped and looked up at the owl (I really, really like owls) and he looked right back at me until I continued on my way.  Near the end of my run, I saw a doe just off the trail.  Again, she didn't run away from me.  She just stood and stared at me as I ran by her.

I finished my run by galloping down the ancient, steep, stone stairs to the entrance to the park, John Prine's "Lake Marie" playing on my iPod.  A good way to end a top 20 run, the kind of run I search for all year long when I lace up my running shoes and head out the door.  I'm lucky to find 5 of those types of runs a year and I'm blessed to have found one this morning.