I live in an area that has no shortage of the great and powerful debris eliminator—AKA, “the wind.” And no, I don’t live in Chicago. I live in a small area in western Utah. As beautiful as it is out here, we attract wind, like poop attracts flies…okay, enough with the gross similes…

Needless to say, it has been very windy out here lately. And because I was taught to look on the bright side of things, I have decided to do just that with my chilly nemesis. So, here are my reasons why running in the wind is awesome. I no particular order…

1. IT KEEPS THE HAIR OUT OF MT FACE: The life of a busy mom is by no means, a glamorous one by way of hairdos. And my annual trip to the hair doctor, does nothing for my endless supply of fly-aways. The wind does an amazing job of keeping my lovely locks at bay.
   

   Although you can't open your eyes or mouth, at least your hair is out of your face!

2. IT IS EXCELLENT RESISTANCE TRAINING: Who needs to drag a rubber tire behind them to build up resistance, when you have 25+mph of wind pushing you back? On those non windy days, I feel like I am flying, with all the resistance I have built up!
3. IT IS AWESOME FOR SINUS DECONGESTION AND SNOT ROCKETS: Okay, so before you think I am being gross, think about a two-year old child standing outside on a cold, windy day. Now, zero in on their nose. It is running, isn’t it? Well, times that by at least 10 when you are running into the wind. When your nose is running, that snot needs to go somewhere. Enter, “snot rocket.” On a normal, calm day, you are going to have to exert some near super human power to avoid those mucus membranes from landing on the side of your face. On a windy day, however, they are flying miles away before you take your second step, never to be seen again!
4. IT IS GREAT FOR LEG STRENGTH AND REFLEX TRAINING: As we all know, wind doesn’t just blow air around; it blows stuff around, too. In order to avoid being impaled by these flying objects, it is essential that we hurdle them! The other day, I was dodging a colony of tumbleweeds. I felt like Spider-man….you know the part in the movie when he was fighting off assailants, and to him, it was like slow motion?….yeah, that was me, and it was AWESOME! Those tumbleweeds didn’t stand a chance!
   

   You do NOT want to end up like this guy!

5. HELPS YOU RUN AT SUPER HUMAN SPEED: Notice that I didn’t title my blog, “Why running INTO the wind is awesome.” Although running into the wind does have it’s perks, as mentioned above; running with the wind at your back….well, there is nothing like it. Not only do you get a false sense of warmth, and you get to be the envy of all those running towards you, but you are moving at super human speed without any effort! There’s nothing quite like looking at your watch to see that you are running at 5:30 pace, and it feels like 7 minute pace. So awesome!

So, the next time that you curse the wind, remember these things, and go out and enjoy yourselves!…(and don’t forget to pack chap-stick)…