About Like the Wind – a Unique Indie Running Magazine
Each edition of Like the Wind running magazine is a collection of running stories. There are personal anecdotes, inspirational tales, reportage, beautiful illustrations and stunning photography over 132 pages printed on beautiful, matte paper. Whether you’re looking for an ultra running magazine, a trail running magazine, whether you’re into road running or social issues linked to running, we cover it all in every issue. The global, English-language version of Like the Wind launched in February 2014 and we publish an edition every quarter every since.
We do not compromise when it comes to production, sourcing sumptuous paper that is certified by the Forest Stewardship Council, so that LtW is as sustainable as it is beautiful.
Is this an ultra running magazine? A trail running magazine? A road running mag?
Yes, yes and also yes… Like the Wind is agnostic when it comes to surface or distance. Within the team, we run on the tracks, trails and roads – and our personal bests range from front-row to back-of-the-pack. No story is small enough: if it’s got soul, we publish it. Our tales come from the USA, the UK, Europe and Asia. Some are written by amateur runners, some cover the elite end of our sport – while some of our features talk about social issues through the lens of running: in the past years, we’ve written about racism, body image, women’s safety, sustainability among other topics. What you won’t find in our pages is product reviews, training advice or tips on how to get fit. We are all about the reasons why we run – and not how to run.
Who we are
We are runners. Our running magazine started as a modest spare-time project with just two of us working on it – Simon Freeman, editor and Julie Freeman, creative director, husband-and-wife team. We decided to launch the magazine whilst running around the Mont Blanc talking about the magazines that we love from areas such as cycling, adventuring and mountaineering. We take our hats off to the Ride Journal, Rouleur, Huck, Alpinist, Sidetracked and independent publishers everywhere. At the time, we were lamenting the absence of high-quality, indie ultra running magazines and trail running magazines.
Over 10 years later, we are still only a tiny core team managing all things Like the Wind: Julie and Simon (now based in Switzerland), Imogen Lees (co-editor, based in the UK), Alex Murphy (co-creative director, based in Australia), and Laura Funk (production manager, in Chicago, USA). And, last but by no means least, all the contributors – writers, designers, illustrators, photographers – who send in stunning work from all over the wold.
Sample content
- Womens’ safety in running
- An intimate portrait of trail runner legend Courtney Dauwalter
- The hilarious story of a man who mistakenly ended up on the elite start line of a marathon
- A heartfelt tale of a woman who runs to her chemo appointments
- A mouthwatering photo-story about aid stations and their stunning food spreads in Thailand
- A photo-reportage about the Barkley Marathons
- The story of a charity that support young kids into running
- … and 700 more
What the future holds for our indie running magazine
When we launched Like the Wind magazine, we took a big risk and hoped that people would want to read the magazine that we were producing. We did not take any financial backing, so that we didn’t have to compromise on our vision for the magazine. This meant investing all our savings, and we’re very happy we did.
Now that the LtW family has grown and the magazine is becoming established, we are looking to make it sustainable. Initially, we decided to give all of the profits from the magazine to charity (which we did for the first 4 issues), but have now realised that there isn’t much profit to give away. So in order to ensure the magazine’s sustainability, we now feature considerate advertising to help fund the magazine. We are still going to make regular donations to running charities, and will reinvest the rest to ensure that we can continue to bring stories to the readers and reach more runners around the world.
We launched in Japan in 2023, and have recently started to make the magazine more USA-friendly. Like the Wind continues to be an amazing project for our still-small team. We could not create the magazine without the talent of the people who contribute words, illustrations and photographs. We are always happy to hear your thoughts about what we are doing and hope that all of your running ambitions come to fruition.
