Thoughts on Headwinds

Today was my first real outdoor run since the end of January and my most recent knee operation. I have run a few times on hotel treadmills while traveling, but today's 3.8 mile jaunt even went out of my neighborhood.

Since the knee op I have been doing lots of biking--both indoors and out--and the thing that strikes me when I go outside is the wind. No matter whether it seems breezy or still at the start, it always seems to get windy while I am riding. It occurs to me that part of the issue is that no matter what the rest of the weather is doing, I am creating about a 18 mph wind just by riding. So even if a 10 mph wind is at my back, I am riding into an 8 mph "headwind". And when I am riding into the wind I am facing a 28 mph headwind. So my biking reality seems to be that unless my riding pace is equal to or less than the general wind speed, I will be riding into a headwind. (The same is true of running, just a slower speeds.) Granted, this leaves out consideration of crosswinds, but this is a reflection on things other than wind patterns.

Bottom line, part of riding and running is facing a headwind--even when everything is going as it should. Why should this be a surprise? Living life is, in and of itself, a struggle--battling headwinds. Not that a struggle is a bad thing. Not at all. In fact, it is struggling and striving that proves that we have life. (Only dead fish float downstream.) And we probably all know of people--or have been those people--who stop trying. Who generally give up and, in a very real sense, stop living.

Until my run earlier today when I considered these thoughts, I was feeling bad about the biking headwinds. I was sort of feeling sorry for myself that I have chosen a fitness activity that will always go into the wind. My new perspective will not negate the headwind issue, but I can choose to see headwinds as markers of progress and effort. If I am not facing a headwind, then I must not be trying very hard or going very fast. Charging into a headwind is actually a sign of good things--life and vitality.

One of the things that I really like about my church is that the Quarry is more concerned about authentically pursuing Jesus than about making people comfortable. The main question is not what can we do to make people more comfortable, but instead is what can we do to lead people into a face-to-face, heart-to-heart encounter with the God of the Universe. Some have questioned whether we should be trying to make things easier for people who are not accustomed to church. I believe that we should not put needless roadblocks in place, but since following Jesus is charging into the headwind anyway, why try to make it seem like something it is not? Instead, what if we embrace the challenges of following Jesus as indicators that mark life and vitality?

Don't get me wrong, I would still rather face the stiffest headwinds early in a ride or run while I am relatively fresh, but I can welcome the later headwinds as the signposts of accomplishment that they are.

Pressing On,
-Ken