The Amazing Race is one of America’s longest-running game shows. Each season pits a dozen teams of two against each other in a scavenger hunt around the world.
The legs of each race happen in different countries and force players to deal with long- and short-distance travel, time zones, and foreign languages. That’s before the challenges even begin. Memorizing local customs, learning a traditional dance, and navigating busy cities to deliver national delicacies are some examples. At the end of most legs, the last team to check in at the so-called “pit stop” is eliminated.
As the season progresses, a hierarchy tends to emerge. Since higher-placed teams get a head start based on their previous check-in time, it can be hard to catch up. Underdogs must ace route planning and make up time in their challenges to move to the front of the pack. Especially as the list of participants thins out, this can feel like a hopeless endeavor.
Having now followed the show for several seasons, I’ve noticed a phrase pop up again and again. Teams in the front, teams in the back, and teams who know they’re in last place use it. They use it early in the season, late in the season, and even in the grand finale, which leaves only three teams to duke it out for the million-dollar prize. “We are running our own race.”
Jas and Jag are in first place. “We’re just trying to run our own race, not get distracted, and knock out these challenges as fast as we can.” Han and Holden are battling for survival in leg two only to make it to the finale later on. “No matter what happens, we’ll run our own race. We’ll stay calm, do what we can, and move forward. Juan and Shane can’t shake their mid-tier ranking until halfway through the show, and it eats at them. Alas, “We are running our own race. We won’t let this get to us. We’ll persist and, sooner or later, we’ll get that first-place finish.”
The show uses many mechanisms to throw spanners in the works. Teams don’t control the weather, traffic, cab drivers, and countless other factors. But they can choose to be present. To take it all in. To savor every experience, irrespective of their position in the ranking. It’s a mirror for life, really.
Sometimes, people cry when they are eliminated. Rarely is anyone devastated. The best part was never the chance at winning a million dollars. It was the adventure they got to share with someone they love, be they a parent, sibling, age-old friend, or their better half.
We might not be the lucky few who get picked to be on a TV show millions enjoy, but we, too, experience adventures. Every day, adventures big and small, with the people we love joining us for various legs of the journey. The formula stays the same: Whether we feel ahead or behind, only presence will turn us into true winners in the end.
Always remember: You are running your own race—and it’s taking you exactly where you need to be in each moment.
