Dear PB Readers,

Belle River, Ontario is a small town you pass at 120km an hour as you go from London to Windsor on Highway 401 and never know you passed it. Other than an arena and a High School there is nothing significant about the small Southern Ontario community. This past week twenty-five year old Brian Diesbourg of Belle River nailed a 50 yard field-goal attempt and won a million dollar FAN APPRECIATION PRIZE. Brian has never played football and was only given thirty minutes of lessons the day before the big kick. While over half of the CFL field-goal kickers have not hit a 50 yard kick this year, the mechanical engineer will be walking away with $25,000.00 per year for the next forty-years. After missing kicks at the 20, 30 and 40 yard line, a TV Time-Out was called and Brain had to stand in front of forty-thousand fans for the two minute TV Commercial. Brian nailed the ball through the uprights and did the un-thinkable. An average fan winning a million dollars for one kick. Anything is possible in our amazing nation and we coaches, parents and teachers should never kill that desire, belief and spirit in those we motivate. I would not be surprised to see the former soccer player get a few calls from CFL teams looking to see if they can convert this one-time luck into weekly success for their clubs.

What did you do with your one extra hour on Sunday? I thought about the Daylight Savings Extra Hour that we were all given and wondered what most people did with it? Some of you may have slept longer. Some of you may have gotten an extra hour of house work, or school work completed. While all of these are great options, I decided I wanted to do something special with my extra hour and choose to write my stepmother AND get out for a great hike in the golden leafs where I live. Research indicates that many people do not choose to even give themselves one dedicated hour a week. I say choose because the smartest, most balanced people I know simply take the time to be selfish for themselves. It might be for a walk, to meet a friend, read a book or to see a movie. In a week that has 168 hours why don't you (we) take at least one hour each week to break our routines and do something special.

The one hour to call an old-friend (from college, war or your old neighborhood). The one hour to write a letter, go buy the book you have been dying to read or simply to stop your car and go for a hike in that interesting greenspace you have driven by for years. I challenge each of you this week to take just one hour to be selfish and do something different - but just for yourself. I loved my hike in the leaves and was glad I had taken the time to write my stepmother. One hour each week is not too much to ask!

Welcome to our 264th consecutive week creating the Personal Best Newsletter. I had a note last week from a very prolific journalist who wondered how I found the time/desire to write a newsletter each week for over five years. Many of those weeks I have been traveling, at training camps, announcing at races or helping put on a local charitable event. The answer was very simple. The 30-40 new emails I get each week indicate how uplifting the newsletters are to people and how they have used them to improve the quality of their life (or their family's). I personally get energized reading the great emails that come in each week.

Our goal each week is to be a continuous source of positive ideas and energy. I believe if you continually hear and see how negative the world is (you begin to believe it). There must be counter-forces in the world to show all that is positive and I hope our weekly newsletter helps. Please keep adding new friends to our distribution and sending me your weekly email contributions. Check out our PB website at www.personalbest.ca and send your contributions to barrie@personalbest.ca. Have a great week.

Oct 31st PB HIGHLIGHTS

* WILLIAM O'BRIEN QUOTE ON UNEXPLORED TERRITORY
* PERSONAL BEST EMAIL OF THE WEEK
* SOCRATES TEST OF THREE - TAKE 20 SECONDS TO CONSIDER IT
* LISA BENTLEY'S IRON WEDDING
* CANADA'S SPORTS HALL OF FAME THIS WEEK
* DON'T MISS VICKI KEITH ON NOV 19TH
* JOIN BARRIE & CARON THIS WEEK

WILLIAM O'BRIEN QUOTE ON EXPLORATION

"The greatest unexplored territory in the world is the space between our ears."

PERSONAL BEST EMAIL OF THE WEEK

Barrie, I seem to recall an article from one of your newsletters that talked of celebrating before an event. I have looked in the archives for the article and have not found it. Can you direct me to the article or remind me of the concepts. I am considering using it with some of the rugby players I coach. Any advice will be gratefully received. K.M.

Dear Readers and K.M. My philosophy is very simple. I believe in celebrating the "process" not the outcome. The "effort" not the result. Each year before major competitions I take my athletes out to celebrate their great seasons. At first they used to think it was strange that we were celebrating before the event ever occurred. Before the Sydney Olympic Games Simon Whitfield, Carol Montgomery, Sharon Donnelly and Isabelle Turcotte-Baird all gathered with their families to celebrate the Sydney Olympic Games. This supper was three nights before the actual triathlon event. The celebration was for many hundreds of hours of sacrifice, for missed parties, for family members who had given to the cause and to coaches who had sacrificed for the team's success. By celebrating the process, each athlete could take some time to reflect on their great efforts and be proud of what they had learned in the journey.

Carol Montgomery and Sharon Donnelly both crashed at those Games and were never able to achieve their goal of winning a medal. Simon Whitfield, who had trained as hard as his two female counterparts, ended up walking away with the gold medal at the Olympic Games. While we obviously had a celebration dinner for Simon in the weeks after the games, the real celebration was for all of their efforts before the crash.

Your employees could give an incredible year's effort in their jobs, but due to the rising price of oil, or a decision by a vice-president in Europe, their division could lose money or miss their objectives. If the employees (or students, or kids) have accomplished the goals that were set out weeks and months before, I believe they should celebrate as if they were champions (because they have prepared as if they were). A bad referee's call, broken piece of equipment or a team captain with the flu could end the season without the result you desired or deserved. On the other hand you could have won the championships due to a bad call or lucky shot. Celebrating the process before is a great way of showing that you appreciate their hard work and effort.

THE TEST OF THREE

(I wish I used this philosophy more myself)

In ancient Greece (469 - 399 BC), Socrates was widely lauded for his wisdom. Keep this philosophy in mind the next time you either hear or are about to repeat a rumor. One day the great philosopher came upon an acquaintance who ran up to him excitedly and said, "Socrates, do you know what I just heard about one of your students?" "Wait a moment," Socrates replied. "Before you tell me I'd like you to pass a little test. It's called the Test of Three." "Three?" "That's right," Socrates continued "Before you talk to me about my student let's take a moment to test what you're going to say.

The first test is Truth. Have you made absolutely sure that what you are about to tell me is true?" "No," the man said, "actually I just heard about it." "All right," said Socrates. "So you don't really know if it's true or not. Now let's try the second test, the test of Goodness. Is what you are about to tell me about my student something good?" "No, on the contrary..." "So," Socrates continued, "you want to tell me something bad about him even though you're not certain it's true?" The man shrugged, a little embarrassed. Socrates continued. "You may still pass though, because there is a Third test - the filter of Usefulness. Is what you want to tell me about my student going to be useful to me?" "No, not really." "Well," concluded Socrates, "if what you want to tell me is neither True nor Good nor even Useful, why tell it to me at all?"

EDITOR'S NOTE: I am sure we can all see ourselves in this story!

AN IRON WEDDING

Lisa Bentley might be one of the toughest people I have ever met. Behind her beautiful smile is the heart of a lion and usually on the biggest days of the year the multi-Ironman Champion pulls out that toughness to help her win another triathlon. Leading into the Hawaii Ironman Lisa's body was not responding the way she wanted it to. With two Ironman Victories in 2005 (Germany and Australia) along with multiple other podiums around the world, maybe Lisa's body was just tired. To add to the stress, Lisa and fiancée Dave Cracknell were getting married three days after Hawaii.

After three or four days of not feeling well, Dave convinced Lisa to go see a doctor. While they didn't completely rule out appendicitis, the doctors believed other issues were likely at fault and gave Lisa anti-biotics. After an average swim and a hard bike, Lisa started on the 26.2 mile marathon aspect of the Hawaii Ironman. Lisa is one of only a handful of women to ever run sub 3hrs for the marathon (off the bike) and everyone expected her to start running her competition down. With her side beginning to hurt her more and more, Dave eventually pulled Lisa off the course at the 12 mile mark (read she had already swam 2.4 miles, biked 112 miles and ran 12 miles). Not feeling well, Dave finally convinced Lisa to go into the emergency room at the local Kona Hospital where doctors confirmed her appendix had ruptured and emergency surgery would need to occur within the hour.

Lisa's Wednesday wedding came and went with her still in the hospital. Dave's minister and friends from New Zealand had come to Hawaii to celebrate with the couple and their flights were all leaving on Friday. So Lisa Bentley, fresh from her surgery, got to the hairdressers on Friday morning and got married before their friends were to leave. I have spoken to the happy couple since their return to Caledon and while they would have never planned the week out the way it occurred, they were also flexible enough and positive enough to accept the cards they had been dealt and make the best out of the situation. Congratulations to both Dave and Lisa.

CANADIAN SPORTS HALL OF FAME INDUCTES NOV 2ND

While articles abound this week about the horrific state of the Canadian Hall of Fame Building (on the CNE Grounds in Toronto), this week will be a celebration for the men and women who are being inducted into it.

Inductees include Catriona LeMay Doan (the 2x Olympic Gold Medalist Speedskater from Saskatchewan). I have worked with Catriona at the Olympics and she is as nice as she was fast on the oval. Curt "Mr. Hair" Harnett was a four time Olympic track cyclist with a silver and two bronze from the Olympic Games. Curt was the first man to ever break 10 seconds for 200m on the track and continues to work on behalf of children's charities today. Steve Bauer was the 1984 Olympic Silver medalist in cycling and was one of the first Canadians to ever race in the Tour De France. Steve worked very hard on Canada's 2008 Olympic Bid as well as Hamilton's World Championship Cycling Race several years ago. The entire Team Canada 1972 Hockey Team is also being inducted into the Hall this week. Some of the most famous names to ever play the game were members of that historic team. Quebec's Claude Raymond was a professional baseball pitcher in the late 50's and 60s. During the 1970 season with the Montreal Expos, he saved 20 games. The last two inductees to the Hall of fame are former Blue Jay Executive Paul Beeston and George Gross the veteran journalist from the Toronto Sun Chain.

Each of these amazing athletes started as small children playing games for fun and fitness and through years of dedicated hard work, honed their skills to become some of the best athletes in the world. Congratulations to each of these outstanding Canadians.

DON'T MISS VICKI KEITH

Few people have done more for sport than distance swimmer Vicki Keith. I will be hosting Vicki on Sat. Nov. 19th at the Caledon Golf and Country Club at a year-end supper. Tickets are $40.00 pp for a fantastic supper and a night to hear one of Canada's legendary speakers tell her story. All proceeds from the evening go to help developing athletes through the C3 Canadian Cross Training Club. Register for your tickets at info@c3online.ca or www.c3online.ca.

DON'T SIT ON YOUR BUTT START WORKING OUT WITH BARRIE AND C3

If you live in the GTA area and are interested in weekly coached supported workouts see the C3 website at www.c3online.ca. Key workouts for consideration are:

* Tuesday night York University run/power-walk and core-strength workouts with Caron and Barrie
* Thursday evening hill run workout and post Dryland Workout with Caron
* Saturday afternoon indoor 2 hour spin class (1-3pm) followed by 1hr coached swim workout (4-5pm) in Caledon

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