I Think The Wind Was Out To Get Me . . .

I do.  I think the wind was out to get me during yesterday’s run.  My day started off on a sour note when my regular Saturday long run was delayed.

I was not pleased.

This is my favorite time of the week, you see.  Just me in the early morning running silently and peacefully for miles and miles.  It clears my head and sets the tone for my whole weekend.  But, when I woke on Saturday the weather was bad.  Really bad.

photo credit: heanster via photopin cc

I can run in rain.  I can run in wind.  I can run in the dark.  But, combine hard rain with wind gusts up to 23 mph and the pitch black darkness of the very early morning and things felt a little dicey.  I put on my gear and waited.

And waited.

And, eventually, I grudgingly decided it wasn’t wise to head out.

After breakfast and errands, I felt renewed hope for making my long run happen.  It was light enough to see and while the wind gusts were still happening, the rain had mellowed to a light, but consistent, drizzle.  I figured I would work through the head winds for the first part of my run and then use the tailwind after I turned around for renewed energy.  But here’s what actually happened.

I headed out east with the hard wind coming straight at me.  I reached a point where I turned around and headed back west.  And the wind was still coming straight at me.  WTF?!  How could it be blowing in two opposite directions?  After another few miles, I made another turn to head south.  I figured I must be in the clear, right?

No.

No, I was not.  The wind was still coming straight at my face.  How is that even possible?  Was it magic wind?  Did have some vendetta against me that I didn’t know about?

Finally, after making my final turn north, I found it at my back and it ushered me home.

I think it finally had its fun and decided to cut me a break.  It had toyed with me enough and moved on to some other poor runner heading in the opposite direction.

Damn wind.  There is a reason (okay, many reasons) why it’s my absolute most dreaded weather element.

But I am glad to say that it didn’t stop me.  I ended up finishing my long run about 2 miles short of where I’d like to have been, but it still added up to another 14 miles in the books.  Let’s hope tomorrow is better, shall we?  (Though the forecast seems to think it won’t be.)  Damn it.