I've run on the Mountain Goat Trail many times on our sojourns to Monteagle Mountain. In fact, running on the Mountain Goat Trail is how I stumbled upon the Lake Dimmick trail, one of my all time favorite trails to run on with the trail end at Lake Dimmick the big payoff. For me, there's just something special about running on the Mountain.
It was cool, but not cold, as I began run up the Mountain Goat Trail. With the temperature in the high 30's, I was comfortable in a long sleeve running shirt and my neon green lightweight, windbreaker vest. I thought about listening to a podcast but opted, instead, for my favorite Spotify playlist, "the Haunting," a collection of songs I've curated over the past few years from the "Discovery" playlist I get from Spotify every Monday morning. Most artists have only one entry on my playlist of songs that I discovered and love - that haunt me - or one reason or another. Someday, if the boys want to understand the kind of music that moved me, they can listen to "the Haunting," which is well over 100 songs and still growing.
As I eased into my run and passed the one mile mark, then two, I felt good. The trail is flat for the most part with only a couple of small hills. At first, my pace was around 8:15/mile, which was fine given that I was going to run long. Slowly, though, the run began to evolve, as runs often do, into something different than I thought it would be when I started.
As I think about it this morning, sipping my coffee at Portland Brew, I realize that's one of the things that I love the most about running. Contrary to what non-runners think, running - even running the same routes - is not boring or monotonous. Every run is different. And, most importantly for me, rarely does a run turn out to be what you thought it would be when you started.
For me, anyway, my runs often metamorphose into something different, something unexpected. The beauty of it, too, is that it happens independently of anything I do during the run. Sure, I can run faster or slower, I guess, but the run evolves on its own. If I leave it alone and just let the run come to me, I'm always surprised by what the run a get, in the end.
And this time, on this run, I was surprised by how strong I felt, particularly as I turned around at the four mile mark, just past Mooney's Market & Emporium, the Mountain Goat Trail on the opposite side of Highway 41 from where it started. As I finished mile five, my pace was dropping closer to 8:00/mile and I started to think I could finish eight miles under 8:00/mile, which would be the fasted long run for me in a long time.
You see, this is what the run had evolved into, all on its own. A fast, strong, memorable long run. It became a run where I shed years off of my life, decades even, and reveled in the ability to run fast and long on a trail that I love, for eight miles. I lengthened my stride on miles seven and eight, picking up the pace as I checked my half mile splits to make sure I was on target for the finish I wanted.
As I approach the end of the trail, I crossed Highway 41 and ran toward Sewanee Village. I felt fantastic. In a word, I felt alive. I felt like I could run forever and that's the best feeling a runner can get, a feeling I chase all year long on all of my runs. And Saturday, with the sun setting on Monteagle Mountain, I found it.
I averaged 7:52/mile over eight miles. I ran the last mile, the eighth mile, at a 7:12 pace. Fast for me. I felt like a million bucks as got in my truck and drove to Stirling's coffee house for a late coffee. On the front porch at Stirling's, as I sipped my coffee, I took a few moments to sit quietly and reflect on how fortunate I am to be healthy and to have the desire and ability, at age 55, to run like I do.
It was a run to remember.
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