Just Wondering: How Much Does The Wind Matter?

Friends, it was a glorious morning to be a runner in Chicago because--for the first time in what feels like weeks--the sun came out and the thermometer got up to 45 degrees at 7am. (I almost did a jig as I ran under the digital time & temp display hanging from the bank. Woo hoo!) Inspired by the weather, and wearing knit gloves instead of Patgonia mittens (ahhh, life is good), I headed to the UChicago track for my timed mile.

Oh maaaaaan. Reality check: I am slow. I may be in training and therefore supposedly getting faster, but treadie miles aren't the same as outdoor miles. (I have the worst timed mile performance of training so far saved in my watch to prove it.) As I beat myself up the entire run home...You shouldn't of had chicken fried steak for dinner! [side note: yeah, I really had that last night, and it was good!] You should've gone to bed earlier! You should've sipped water instead of wine at your friend's engagement celebration! You can't keep racheting these lame performances up to "just one of those days"!....I allowed myself to admit that it had been pretty windy out on the track. Every time I rounded the curve and headed south on the straightaway, the gusts I encountered made it hard to run fast no matter how much juice I had left in my legs. Still, that is NOT an excuse for a crappy mile. I'm just curious how much wind can negatively affect pace--from speed workouts to marathons. Anyone? Photo grabbed from funny-city.com. Posted by Liz