Dear PB Readers,

The last few weeks have been incredibly busy with travel. I found myself in London, England's busiest airport coming back from Germany and on my way to Toronto and then to Cornerbrook, Newfoundland. Airport travel can be a hassle and I found myself starting to do an "interval whine”. You know the internal dialogue of, "this line is going so slow” and all the negative energy that goes with being frustrated. When I find myself going into that negative cycle, I try to remind myself how lucky I am and the number of things I am blessed to have in my life. As I started to make my mental notes on why I should feel fortunate and stop my negative airport whining, I looked into the corner of the airport and there sat a 35 year old mother with her wheelchair-bound disabled daughter. I watched the incredibly patient mother as her teenage daughter pulled at her own hair, punched her own face and sat moaning and screaming in the busy airport. Seeing this mother's airport challenges, suddenly my mini-airport-frustrations evaporated and seemed embarrassingly insignificant. My brother-in-law is a Canadian Military officer and I love his personal mantra. "If they aren't shooting at me everything is good” he says. While few of us will ever truly have to worry about actually being shot at, the symbolism of putting things into perspective is very powerful for me.

I would like to welcome the many new readers who signed up for our newsletter this week or registered their family or friends for our weekly newsletter. There is very little that will likely ever be written in this newsletter that you haven't already heard or thought about. The real issue is that we each need to be reminded of the importance of positive thinking. My personal mantra is that "you get more of what you think about” and my objective is for my family - friends - athletes and co-workers to think about the positive slant on potentially negative situations. Instead of being frustrated and allowing my personal physiology to deteriorate in a hostile mood in my London airport, I CHOSE TO REALIZE HOW LUCKY I WAS TO EVEN BE IN FORTUNATE ENOUGH TO AFFORD AN AIRLINE TICKET TO SEE EUROPE OR NEWFOUNDLAND. The small hassles of being delayed at the airport were insignificant next to the mother with this hyperactive wheel chair-bound child. The world is filled with too many great stories that never get told. I hope you will enjoy this week's newsletter and keep contributing with your own stories and ideas. Send them to barrie@personalbest.ca and checkout our website at www.personalbest.ca

JULY 18th PB HIGHLIGHTS

* BARRIE SHEPLEY'S QUOTE ON CREATING A LIFELONG MEMORY
* SMALL TOWN FLAVOUR FROM CORNERBROOK
* PB EMAIL OF THE WEEK
* DON'T MISS THE WORLD'S BEST TRIATHLETES AT THE JULY 3OTH HSBC ITU CALEDON PAN AMERICAN CUP TRIATHLON
* PAUL HARVEY REFLECTS (REPEATED FROM A PAST NEWSLETTER)

BARRIE SHEPLEY QUOTE ON CREATING A LIFELONG MEMORY

"When I talk to people years and even decades after a big athletic event, they remember aspects about their day as clear as if it was only yesterday. Embrace your opportunity with a fit body to push yourself harder than you have ever gone before and accept the pain and fatigue as a desired outcome to creating your own lasting memory. There will come a day when your body will no longer allow you to go hard or exert yourself to the point of the resultant pain and fatigue. Use your chance this weekend to create one of those life-lasting memories”

EDITOR'S NOTE: One of our readers emailed last week and asked me to send a note to their friend who was doing their first major endurance event. Most athletes I know can remember vivid details of that overtime hockey/soccer game, last meters of a swim race or the final meters of a hard run or workout.

SMALL TOWN FLAVOUR

Twenty-four years ago, a dozen crazy athletes and volunteers hosted the first ever Cornerbrook Triathlon. The event was miles away from the town in a small lake where few cars ever ventured. With few volunteers, no officials, zero prize money and no medical support, the event was truly a small town in every sense. Bill Barry, president of a local fishing company, saw some huge potential in a young teenager named Scott Ledrew and agreed to pay for a few airline tickets for the local high school triathlete to get to Europe for a few races in the mid 1980s. Bill Barry's investment helped Scott Ledrew eventually represent Canada at the World Triathlon Championships. As Scott's career came to an end he became a great ambassador for the small town that had given him so many opportunities. Together Ledrew, Bill Barry and two dozen volunteers started to dream about getting the rest of the country to come to Cornerbrook and see the magic of their little community race. I still have my purple t-shirt "COD-SQUAD” from 1992 when Bill and Scott showed up in Ontario to bug myself and others to come to Newfoundland for their local triathlon. I accepted their offer and brought my top junior athlete Kirstie Otto to their race in the summer of 1993 and I have returned to Cornerbrook every July for the past thirteen years. The race has grown from a local community race in the early 90's to a World Cup Triathlon with the world's best athletes showing up each year in this magical little town.

Bill Barry had a dream that if he were able to create a community event, many positive benefits would occur. Many of those initial race employees have now matured to become doctors, lawyers, teachers and businessmen. Dozens of athletes from Cornerbrook have now gone onto race at the World Championships themselves because of the personal goals they set due to the race being in their own town. Nearly 800 million people will tune into see the television production we have created around the Cornerbrook World Cup Race Weekend. Next year Cornerbrook will celebrate the City's 50th anniversary, the Triathlon's 25 anniversary and will host the World Duathlon (run-bike-run) Championships. I sat with Bill Barry at the press conference this past weekend and looked into the eyes of a truly content man. While others laughed at him as a "dreaming newf” (his own words) he has had the last laugh. His former summer students are now positive productive Canadian citizens and his small town now hosts one of the biggest sporting events in the country. Bill Barry was prepared to dream and then back up his dream with a concrete plan! I am sure many of you live in a small Cornerbrook type town and have big dreams that everyone believes are impossible! Never stop believing that anything is possible!

PB EMAIL OF THE WEEK

Dear Barrie I just want to say that your newsletter is truly an inspiration. A school teacher friend told me about your newsletter and I've really benefited from your words. I'm attempting my first ever half marathon in New Hampshire this fall and I've started to train quite seriously. I am a mother of two and I have always believed that I have the potential to focus and finish something. I'm scared as I'm not an athlete and am about 15 lbs overweight right now, but I am working to get my mind and body in sync and to appreciate the wonderful gift of focus. I am grateful for so many things and I believe in the power of optimism that you describe. It truly is amazing what the mind can do if we discipline it to focus on positive things. I just wanted to reach out to you and say thank you. The way you reach out to others has a huge impact. Liz.

EDITORS NOTE: Last week I got my personal energy from a frazzled mother of a disabled child in a busy London England Airport. I pass my energy to others who pass their energy onto their family, friends and colleagues. Positive energy must be shared!

HSBC ITU CALEDON PAN AMERICAN TRIATHLON - JULY 30TH, 2005

Where else can you see the world's best athletes, have a chance for great draw prizes, and spend an day outside with live music and all at no cost?! Caledon Ontario is located just twenty minutes north of the Toronto Airport. The HSBC Caledon Triathlon will take place at the beautiful Royal Ambassador Banquet Hall and Conference Centre. The event has attracted the top elite Triathletes in the world to the small community of Caledon, Ontario. Leading the pack will be Samantha McGlone Canada's hottest triathlete this season. Joining McGlone will be Olympian Brent McMahon, the twenty-three year old Victoria based triathlete has been a medalist at the world championships land is expected to make a significant push to have a Canadian on the top of the podium on July 30th.

You can be a volunteer, participant (we have relay and individual races still open for participation in) or spectator. All spectators, volunteers and participants will be given coupons for draw prizes to be drawn on July 30th. Simply stop down to the race site and you are eligible for many great prizes. More information at www.c3online.ca

PAUL HARVEY SAYS

I spend a lot of time in my car driving to meetings, workouts and camps. I love the voice of radio personality Paul Harvey. The wise senior citizen puts things in perspective. While some of you have likely read or heard his words in the past, his message continues to have importance. Paul writes:

"We tried so hard to make things better for our kids that we made them worse. For my grandchildren, I'd like better. I'd really like for them to know about hand me down clothes and homemade ice cream and leftover meat loaf sandwiches. I really would. I hope you learn humility by being humiliated, and that you learn honesty by being cheated. I hope you learn to make your own bed and mow the lawn and wash the car. And I really hope nobody gives you a brand new car when you are sixteen. It will be good if at least one time you can see puppies born and your old dog put to sleep. I hope you get a black eye fighting for something you believe in. I hope you have to share a bedroom with your younger brother/sister. And it's all right if you have to draw a line down the middle of the room, but when he wants to crawl under the covers with you because he's scared, I hope you let him. When you want to see a movie and your little brother/sister wants to tag along, I hope you'll let him/her. I hope you have to walk uphill to school with your friends and that you live in a town where you can do it safely. On rainy days when you have to catch a ride, I hope you don't ask your driver to drop you two blocks away so you won't be seen riding with someone as un cool as your Mom. If you want a slingshot, I hope your Dad teaches you how to make one instead of buying one. I hope you learn to dig in the dirt and read books. When you learn to use computers, I hope you also learn to add and subtract in your head. I hope you get teased by your friends when you have your first crush on a boy\girl, and when you talk back to your mother that you learn what ivory soap tastes like. May you skin your knee climbing a mountain, burn your hand on a stove and stick your tongue on a frozen flagpole. I don't care if you try a beer once, but I hope you don't like it. And if a friend offers you dope or a joint, I hope you realize he is not your friend. I sure hope you make time to sit on a porch with your Grandma/Grandpa and go fishing with your Uncle. May you feel sorrow at a funeral and joy during the holidays. I hope your mother punishes you when you throw a baseball through your neighbor's window and that she hugs you and kisses you at Hannukah/Christmas time when you give her a plaster mold of your hand. These things I wish for you - tough times and disappointment, hard work and happiness. To me, it's the only way to appreciate life.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Speaking to a financially successful friend, he talked about how difficult it is to not spoil his children. In his younger years, he had no car, no tv, no computer and simply wanted his children to have an easier life then he had. The trouble is, his children have become soft and he was concerned that in trying to give them a better life, he might actually be hurting them. Paul Harvey's story about the importance of experiencing pain and suffering to fully grow as a person is important. Don't be afraid to allow those you love to feel some pain in their personal growth and development!

HAVE A GREAT WEEK AND TRY TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE IN THE LIFE OF AT LEAST ONE OTHER PERSON!