On winning

After running a race it is always interesting to see different people responses when you tell them your time or what you placed. I am not a fast runner, and I am okay with that. I don't race in order to win or to even see how I compare to others. I love being in races because it makes me feel part of something bigger than myself. It is fun joining together with people who have a similar interest and to share an experience that brings us together. For me, winning (or losing) has nothing to do with it. We are all doing our best, working towards the same goal, and in the end almost all of us get the same reward (a t-shirt and an awesome sense of accomplishment). I believe running a race is a metaphor for life. We can either go through mortality trying to be beat our neighbor, or we can focus on doing our personal best and not regard how we compare to others. Some of us may come in first place because that's our personal best. Others will finish towards the back of the pack. Sometimes those ahead of us can serve as inspiration and can be motivation to push ourselves a little harder. But in the end, so long as we did our best we will receive the same reward. Who finishes first is irrelevent.