I've been in a bit of a running rut lately. I am still running, I will not give it up, but I'm in a funk.

I've been racking my brain trying to figure out why I'm at where I am at right now. I thought it was because of my allergies. My allergies have been very rough lately. Everyday I feel like I have to blow out a full cup of mucus from my body, sorry to be gross. I then thought it was because of too much running. I was on a run streak of nearly 300 days, but I was becoming disillusioned with it. Running became a chore. It wasn't fun. So I stopped that. I even thought that it was maybe due to my anxiety issues. My anxiety has been a little elevated lately, I'm fine, but I thought it was causing my running to take a nosedive.

Today I think I finally came to as solid a conclusion as I can find. I went for a run today. I have backed down to four runs a week as opposed to seven days a week. I feel better, but my time was slower than usual. I also ran the Lion's Roar this past weekend, I did the same race last year, ran 25 miles, but this year I could only do 20 miles. The same thing happened each time, and has been going on since late March and all of April. I think my continuing rut is due to the wind. It has been so damn windy lately. And it has been windy everywhere. I thought driving 120 miles this past weekend would help. It did not. It was even windier in Columbia. And today, here in Saint Louis, it seemed like the wind might be gone. It is 60 degrees and beautifully sunny. There are no clouds in the sky, it is calm and just a glorious day. But during the whole 4.75 miles I had god damn wind blowing in my face. The same thing happened in Columbia. I would turn a corner, the race was a 2.5 mile loop run over and over again for 5 hours, and the wind was so hard that, had I not had headphones on, my hat would have blown off every single time. I did eight laps and I would have lost my hat, at the very least, eight times. It was rough.

This has been going on every day since late March, as I said. I have been going out and running and there has not been a run where the wind was not blowing in my face or coming at me from the side. There have been times I have gone on a road run and had cold wind blowing in my face so hard that my beard would freeze, and there was no snow or ice. I have found that trail running is a bit better, except when there is an open space. I've gone trail running a few times lately, and when I'm under the trees it is fine. But, I will turn a corner, or hit an open switchback, and that is when the wind comes in and totally slows me down. It is brutal. I get frustrated by it at times. I have openly cursed the wind while running. I cursed it this afternoon. I kept yelling during my race "WE GET IT!!!!! IT IS WINDY!!!!". I did make some other racers laugh with that one. I have been doing this since all this wind started. It is wild. I never thought that windy running would cause such a problem. It has made me slower. I have been actively trying to go slower, but not as slow as I have been lately. The wind has angered me, and that is ridiculous. The wind makes me cold when I should not be cold. It has knocked my hat off multiple times. It has messed up my headphones when I wear them.

This wind is crazy. The only time I do not mind it is when it is at my back, which is very rare lately. I'm sure that there are other, underlying things that are causing me to go through this mini slump, but for right now I am going with my theory that it is the wind that is my biggest obstacle. The god damn wind. My new running nemesis.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

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