The fall colors don’t last long in Colorado. There is a lot of brown. But even the brown looked gorgeous to me today as I was struck by this feeling of joy as I was running among fallen leaves and cool weather.

The view of the Flatirons was a bit hazy too, but the brown everywhere added to my feeling of running in the fall, my favorite time of year.

I’ve been running this East Boulder Trail since 1990, well before Chris Lear made it famous in his Running with the Buffaloes classic novel on distance running. The CU track team called it the water tank workout for the water tower at the top of the hill. I call this section of it over my shoulder, the Slingshot. I like to gather speed running downhill and then launch myself back uphill. It’s tougher on the return.

Today’s combination of color, fallen leaves, and cool weather on today’s 13-miler left me knowing that I’m living my best life.