My Running Nemesis: the Wind

Some days this sport seems a little crazy, even to me.  I have endured countless long runs over the years.  Depending on the week/month/year/training cycle, that long run could be anywhere from 10km to 40km.  Sometimes I feel as though I could just keep running (usually when I have company, and we are chatting away without a care in the world) and other times I feel like I want to be back home before I hit the 2km mark.  It all depends on the day, I guess.

On Sunday, myself, my brother Scott, and my husband Patrick headed out on a mild, sunny morning for a long run.  Hubs was planning a shorter run, so he left us part of the way into it.  We chatted along, and a dog even joined us part of the way through (we were out on some country roads).  This dog didn’t seem threatening, so we were cool.  I do, however, get nervous whenever dogs follow me on a run on country roads.  What if the dog got too far from it’s home?  What if it got hit by a car?  Too much to worry about, pups!  Owners, if you’re reading, please keep your cute K-9’s from following me! Anyway…although it was a gorgeous day, it was windy.  We didn’t know just how windy it was, as the wind was to our backs for the first half of the run.  I wish I could save all of that energy that the wind gives as it pushes us from behind!  As we turned into the opposite direction, (the direction of home) that wind decided to be the focus of our run for the next hour.  Yeesh.  That wind that brings tears to one’s eyes.  That wind that whistles and blows past one’s ears with such force it is hard to keep a conversation.  That wind that made me wish there was an alternate route home.

Here are some things that do not help, regardless of effort:

1. Yelling “Okay, wind, we’ve had enough!!”

2. Running backwards.  Too much effort.

3. Yelling other, less PG talk to the wind.

4. Attempting to convince running partners to let you “draft” them.

5. Speeding up.  This only makes you more tired.

As it turns out, the only thing that helps when running with such wind is to plug on and accept it as good training.  And, be thankful that it isn’t race day!  I feel so lucky that my windy run still had sun, and none of my parts froze in the process.  I am glad I am writing about this here, so 2 months from now, when I am feeling the cold, icy snow out there, I can look back at this post and laugh at myself for complaining about a little breezy run I had on a sunny November day!