Dec 23, 2007

holy headwinds

last night, as i was closing things up around the house & heading up to bed, i listened to the roll of thunder across the sky and watched as the sky lit up with lightning, and thought - yes, perfect. the weather is just as it should be the night before a long run. my plan b long runs have all been in miserable weather conditions, why should it change now? i heard the rain, and then the howling winds all night.

i hit snooze for two hours this morning. prolonging the inevitable. but it finally stopped raining which left just the wind. i had my breakfast and geared up to head out. but not before checking weather.com. the winds were howling and i was curious to see how fast they were actually blowing.

25-35 mph. 30 degrees. 20 with the wind chill.

i step out to start long run number theresbeensomanylongrunsnowivelostcount and was pleasantly surprised. the sun was shining, i could smell the fireplace fires burning. i was in heaven. for about a half mile. i was wondering where the winds were. i turned the corner and BAM! there's the wind. oh.my.god. this is going to be a rough run.

rough is an understatement. for fifeteen miles i wondered when the hell the wind would be at my back. it seemed that it was always coming at me, hindering any hopes of forward progress, or clobbering me from the side. i can't count how many times i wanted to turn home at certain points in the run. at one point i stopped at the bridge to decide. if i went left, i'd be home in two hills and 1.3 miles, if i went right, i'd be home in 4 hills and about 4 miles. i went right. and wished i had gone left.

once home, i felt like i had been beaten up, hit by a truck and thrown into a boxing ring. there needs to be some sort of handicapping system for running in that kind of wind. like, add 2 more miles to your total mileage, or subtract 30 seconds from your overall pace. something that makes up for the youaregoingtogetyourasskickedbymothernature factor. i can run in the rain, i can do cold; but that wind chewed me up, spit me out & kicked the shit out of me.

suffice it to say, long run number umpteenthousand sucked.

postscript: just heard the news. today's wind gusts were 40mph.

6 comments:

RunToTheFinish said...

It's official you are wonderwoman...I am a mere peon in your running world, but you do inspire me to try a little harder and I love that.

Hope you have a fantastic Christmas, you really did just give yourself an awesome gift. I mean you beat mother nature!

Tall Girl Running said...

I'm all too familiar with training in the wind. So much so that I've created mental mantras to repeat in my head everytime I run against the wind... mantras that I won't write just at the moment because my children are nearby. :-P Suffice to say... running in the wind is TOUGH, but the good news is it makes you that much tougher of a runner too. I think my PB is 35mph, so once again you amaze me.

Merry Christmas!

zanne said...

angie - am sure your wind-running mantras are more motivational than mine. mine were more along the lines of: i want to go home i want to go home. this sucks this sucks this sucks.

monicac2 said...

I hate the wind.

But the 30 degrees alone would have stopped me in my tracks!

Vickie said...

Long runs are like life--you have to take it as it comes. Not always pleasant. Not always what you want. But the effort is always a learning experience on how to cope with whatever comes your way. Did I tell you about my first marathon when we had 40 mph headwinds? But it was pleasant when we finally headed to the finish, the last 3 miles with the wind behind us. Not something we trained in, but it was what it was that day, so what are you going to do?

Laurel said...

Ugh, that sucks! We don't get winds like that down here unless there is a hurricane-a-comin'.

You did it though, and even though you could have gone left, you didn't. You rock.