Like The Wind Magazine: A Review

When I started to run more often and enter some running events I used to love gobbling up all the advice I could in magazines like Runner’s World. I definitely picked up lots of helpful tips about how to run but, over the years, I have probably made all the mistakes that the magazines warn you about: I have run too much and too little for my goals; I have eaten the wrong thing before, during and after races; and I have tried to ramp up too quickly after a period off running. They say experience is the best teacher and while I would not pretend to be an expert, I have been burned enough to know how to manage my running for what I am trying to achieve.
So what magazine do you read about running once you don’t just want to know how to run? I didn’t think anything like that existed until my friend Steph (@44stephie) told me to check out Like The Wind magazine which has the tag line “It’s why we run.”

As far as I know, the English language doesn’t (but probably should) have a word for discovering something for the first time that makes you wonder how you could have lived your life not knowing it existed. The best way I can describe my feeling after reading this is that it was the same way I felt after I first tasted sticky toffee pudding. Every page, like every mouthful of my first bowl of sticky toffee pudding, was a delight and I kept going thinking that it really cannot be this good. But it really is. Please take a look at the website to find out more about the amazing couple behind this magazine www.likethewindmagazine.com and how the writers and illustrators contribute to the magazine for free. Julie and Simon have day jobs and produce this magazine in their spare time which makes it all the more remarkable.
Calling it a magazine almost does it an injustice because it is a beautiful object with wonderful illustrations, articles and photographs and is printed on thick, quality matt paper. On opening it you can tell it is produced by passion and not motivated purely by profit. I have taken out a subscription that costs £32 a year for 4 issues which are published quarterly (a saving of £1 per issue on the cover price of £9). That would be expensive for an ordinary magazine but this is not an ordinary magazine.  It is absolutely worth every penny and it works out at less than £3 per month over the year. The stories are so varied and inspiring and help to capture the essence of why we run. There is no one answer to the question of why we run but the exploration of that question is an inspiration in itself and it made me consider all the reasons why I run from the lofty, philosophical motivations to the more mundane (like my love of sticky toffee pudding). I eagerly await the next issue and thoroughly recommend this magazine for those who enjoy running.