Drafting

Dear Blog Followers,

One of my favorite moments in my 2018 track season happened at the Desert Challenge Games in Arizona.  It was during the 1500 meter race; that is three and three-quarter laps around an outdoor track (slightly less than a mile).  It can feel like a long distance.  One of the things that competitors do is work together by drafting off one another to make a faster time.  In the Rio 2016 Paralympic games this strategy worked very well for the US Women's team in the 5000 meter race.  By working together they made a clean sweep of the podium.  Because I train alone, I don't get much practice drafting.  The 1500 was the last race of the event.  There were two young ladies competing who ran similar times to mine.  Dad had the idea and approached their coach about the three of us drafting.  Everyone agreed that it would be a lot of fun.  It turned out that Paralympian Amanda McGrory did not have anyone to draft with, and she asked if she could join us.  We were thrilled and said, "YES!"  The race was exhilarating!  Even though Amanda knew that she would win, she chose to sacrifice her time to stick with us.  In the end, we all enjoyed ourselves and achieved better times than we would have had we chosen to run alone (except for Amanda, of course).


When wheelchair racers draft, the purpose is for one person to cut through the wind while everyone else behind them is in the slipstream, not having to do as much work.  When drafting is done properly, athletes trade off pulling everyone else and riding in the slipstream so that everyone is doing the same amount of work.  After all of the athletes get in a line, the athlete in the first position pulls everyone for a while.  When their turn is done, they slide over to the outside and allow the others to pass them, falling into last place in the draft.  The athlete in the second position becomes the athlete in the first position, and when their turn is done they move into last place.  Athlete's keep doing this until the very end when they all sprint for the finish.

Several metaphors about the Christian walk can be drawn from drafting.  When someone decides to follow Jesus, he gains the body of Christ to help him through life and growth in Christ.  Life is like a longer race where you can try running by yourself, but you will not have the results that you're looking for.

There are those who try to run by themselves but wear out quickly.  There are also those who try to hide in the slipstream without sharing the work.  They can get left behind if they are not working with the team.  When you draft, you have to communicate well.  Without communication, a draft line will become too far apart, losing any efficiency. The Bible talks about Christians bearing one anothers' burdens and loving each other just as Christ loves us.  We have to stick together and communicate with each other about our burdens.  By choosing to share life and be honest with each other, we find the life to the fullest that Jesus talked about.  God made us to live together with Him.