What does BEST mean to you?

Does it have to be better?
Does it mean you're stronger?
Would you you have to go faster?
If it was "the best," would it mean it was easier?

This morning I realized that my best may or may not fit into one of the above categories...but, my best will always be different than what I have done before!

I left my house with about 80 minutes to spare. I rode my bike 11.5 miles to the start of the 10K race I was going to run. I arrived in time to get about 12 minutes of warm-up time. (*Warming up for a 10, today, consisted of: 5X100 "kicks," and about 6 minutes of easy jogging.)

At the go signal, I went out with the second group. We were running about 9MPH or so. I then settled into an easy pace I thought I could sustain. At about the one mile mark, I passed 3 people who had gone out with the lead group..."Hey, look," I thought, "I'm getting better!"

Then, something amazing happened at about mile 3.5. I got lost in a "mental infinity loop." My thoughts were stuck in a looping action, replaying a negative situation I was dealing with this weekend. (Long story short: Someone had stolen jewelry from my family's house in Los Angeles...)

Running along, I was thinking about planning how to deal with this situation.

Suddenly, I realized something...a couple of things, actually.
1) What was done was done. The thief had been fired, and we'll move on from the past.
2) When I think about something negative (whether I am right or not!), with negative energy, I slow down.

When I switched my focus to acceptance and kindness (something I learned from my work with HeartMath), I began breathing more deeply, my heart rate came back down and my race pace increased to up over 10MPH.

I looked around at the fellow runners and then I really "noticed" the landscape. I looped up to see the blue sky, green trees and birds in the branches. I started "doing gratitude..."

This is something my wife I and I started years ago. Before we fall asleep, we share gratitude. One at a time, we share something we appreciate, something that makes us happy, or something that is inspiring. The more grateful I felt while running, the easier the race became...wow!

So, even though my time time was slow (I finished in 7th place, with a time of 42:04), I learned something very important today. And, in slowing down to notice when I'm NOT at my best, I was able to realize that, build a reference point, move beyond it, and speed up again!