Eight Miles of Pure Bliss on the Mountain

This morning, up here on "the Mountain," I had a damn near perfect run.

We're in Sewanee for the Thanksgiving holiday, renting a house on campus on Tennessee Avenue.

As I walked outside the house into a beautiful, brisk Thanksgivng morning - temperature in the high 40's - I turned on John Hiatt on Spotify.  No playlist, just random Hiatt songs.  It turned out to be the perfect choice, for my mood and for the run.  It was cool, on my run, to hear so many of the old Hiatt songs I haven't heard for so long.  

I was a big, big John Hiatt fan a couple of decades ago - still am, really.  Saw him live several times.  I even went to his house for a wedding a lifetime ago when my friend, Sarge, married Jennifer.  As I recall, Jennifer's aunt was married to John Hiatt.  

Great songwriter and, in my mind, similar to John Price.  Great sense of humor but poignancy in his songs, too.

I wasn't sure, exactly, where I wanted to run.  I ran down to the intersection at the beginning of "downtown" Sewanee, by The Blue Chair and Shenanigan's and turned right, looking for the Trail of Tears greenway.  

What I found, instead, was a gravel road marked "private," with a purple (Sewanee's color) barrier blocking entry.  Like any good trail runner, I ran around the barrier and decided to see where the road would take me.  Boy, was I glad I did.

The gravel road narrowed pretty quickly into a large path completed covered in fallen leaves.  Orange, yellow, and red.  It was like running on a multi-colored, carpet of leaves.  Beautiful.  I loved it.

There's something special about running a route for the first time, sometimes for the only time.  I feel more alive and in the moment.  

I felt strong and fast as I ran down the trail, marveling at the beauty all around me.  The sun was shining through the trees, which made the colors of the leaves even brighter.  To my surprise, I ran by a waterfall on my left.  

In the end, I ran about three miles or so out the trail, then turned back.  My run was eight miles in all.  Maybe the best eight miles I have run all year.

It was just one of those amazing and memorable runs, the kind I chase all year long.  Perfect weather.  Perfect music.  Perfect route. 

Perfect run.