Cougar sighting - Barkhamsted

About three years ago I believe I saw a mountain lion race across the road at the western end of Hillcrest Road in Barkhamsted. It flashed across the road from left to right into a swamp area, ran low to the ground and had a long skinny tail. This was late afternoon on a sunlit day in the fall. My initial reaction was that it was a dog but then realized that it was a cat about the size of a bulldog. It was much larger than a bobcat and definitely had the long tail [I've seen several large bobcats recently in the Simsbury Barkhamsted area, definitely not a bobcat]. I've hunted and hiked in Litchfield county for over thirty years and have seen many different wild animals including bear, deer,a moose. coyotes,a martin and many other animals but never anything that startled me as much. Mike in Simsbury.