Olympic Closing Ceremony Credit

Would you rather be catching someone or falling behind a person who you were once shoulder-to-shoulder?  Does it matter?  Are you even competing for the same finish line?  Will the results define you?  If your motivation comes from the performance of others, catching another person by coming-up from behind triggers a primal part of our DNA.  Being dropped by a group because we are no longer able to keep-up also fires off some deeply engrained survival traits.  If we raced in the Olympics, we could suddenly find it a lonely experience as elite athletes quickly surpassed our capabilities.  Other than the shock value of an Olympians proficiency it would be hard to learn much from competing with those who are out of sight.  If we choose to race with others of all abilities then we can use the performances of those around us to slowly improve and move closer to our Olympic dreams.  Improving with others produces benefit beyond ourselves and includes those who are sharing the experience and the result.  Your victory may be hollow if it does not help others produce personal bests.