Features

These stories showcase the heart of Like the Wind: powerful storytelling that explores why we run. From intimate portraits to expansive journeys, this category brings together the magazine’s most engaging narrative writing. Whether delivered through immersive Long Reads or concise Short Stories, these features capture the emotion, culture, and human experience of running in all its forms.

Only the Brave : The Speed Project

Only the Brave : The Speed Project

You’ve got to have some nerve to take on The Speed Project, the legendary 340-mile Los Angeles-Las Vegas relay. You’ve got to have even more nerve putting yourselves out there as a group of older Black women in what can often seem like the white-thirty-something-male-dominated world of ultra running.

Under African Skies

Under African Skies

“Wear some woolies if you want.” For a morning run in Ethiopia? Pull the other one. Come 5am, I hoicked on my bobble hat, microfleece and a scarf. Addis Ababa is fresh before first light. I fumbled for gloves, my eyes seemingly glued together.

Global Running Day: LtW Stories from Around the World

Global Running Day: LtW Stories from Around the World

Like the Wind is published by a team dedicated to sharing meaningful storytelling about running. The heart of what we do is publishing stories that connect runners from around the world, providing inspiration and insight into the lives of people for whom running is a way of life.

Running on Thin Ice

Running on Thin Ice

This is Swedish Lapland. Lying inside the Arctic Circle, it’s Europe’s last remaining wilderness and the heartland of the indigenous Sámi people. This region, Jokkmokk municipality, covers an area the size of Wales yet only has a population of around 3,000 …

Run for Freedom

Run for Freedom

Nike! Nike! Nenikekamen!” “Victory! Victory! Rejoice, we conquer!” 490BC. Pheidippides, a messenger, finally arrives at the end of his 26-mile run from a battlefield in Marathon to the Acropolis in Athens to deliver news of an unexpected Greek victory over Persian invaders.

Hakone

Hakone

“It’s the greatest race you’ve never heard of: the Hakone Ekiden. Lots of races may lay claim to this impressive title, but few have such a legitimate case. On 2 and 3 January every year, this local university road relay brings Japan to a standstill.

Still waiting for the change

Still waiting for the change

Just after 11.30am on 5 November 2006, Samia Akbar took a last right turn in Central Park and raced towards the finish line of the 37th annual New York City Marathon. As 12th woman, she would cross the finish line – in her first marathon – in 2h34m14s.

Enough is enough

Enough is enough

I ran every night in the dark and had felt pretty comfortable. A man blocked the bridge I was crossing to ‘get directions to the metro’… aka to tell me I was beautiful and that he wanted to talk to me.

A Women’s Place is on the Start Line

A Women’s Place is on the Start Line

Even though the running boom of the past 20 years has been driven by increased female participation, negative racing experiences for women remain a broad and endemic problem that seems baked into the very structure of many events.