Running in the wind

I live in Calgary, so that means in the Winter and early Spring we can get Chinooks blowing. These are fabulous for making the usual -30 winters bearable giving us a few days or so of nicer weather, warmer temps and melting of snow. However Chinooks also bring high winds from the west, which blow pretty much the whole day.
Not exactly favorable weather for a newbie runner still trying to just keep completing a 5k.

I spent most of the morning debating whether I wanted to run outside today, or "chicken out" and head to the gym and hit the treadmill instead. It isn't overly cold, hovering around 2-3 degrees, but the wind is gusting around 70km/hr or more. I eventually decided that it would be good training to push through the wind, and I much rather run outside than on the machines.

So after getting home from a playdate, I put the kids down for naps/quiet time and handed the reigns over to my husband and left. I was definitely glad I decided to wear my toque and gloves!

The beginning of my run was nice. I was running south, so the wind was in my favor and pushing me to run a bit faster. I had to take my hat and gloves off as I settled into my groove. About the 2km mark is when things went "West" for me. I turned the "corner" of my community and ended up facing the dreaded West. The winds were definitely strong and I spent a good chunk of that first kilometer praying that I could just keep my feet going. I really struggled with not stopping to walk. I fought hard to keep running, keep my feet moving, but certainly had to drop my pace considerably. I was sure at times I was walking disguised as running.

Finally I got a bit of reprieve as I turned the second "corner" and started facing North. The wind was still catching in the  streets, but at least I was not facing directly into it. I was able to catch my breath so to speak and try to shake the inner voice telling me that maybe going 4km was all I was going to muster today. I was all set to just continue on the path and just head home, but somehow my legs weren't listening to my head. They seemed to have a mind of their own, and before I knew it, they had crossed the street and headed for the back pathway which added my last kilometer into my route.

What my feet forgot was that back pathway faces directly West.
And it is in an open field.
Damn.

I pushed really hard to "just keep swimming" through that pathway. Again, I almost gave up twice in that .5 section to just walk.
But again, my feet weren't listening.
FINALLY, I was able to turn around and now I had the wind at my back. Now I had it pushing me to finish. It felt wonderful to have that. It almost felt like an invisible hand pushing gently at my back to keep moving.

Somehow I managed to complete the full 5k. My time was just shy of 45 minutes - about 1.5 minutes slower than my run on Sunday. But I was thrilled. I finished. I didn't give in to quitting.

I earned my run.
And hopefully it will be calmer on Friday so I can enjoy my run as well:)