Finishing Well

I am hearing it more regularly than I ever have before. “I just want to finish well.”  I guess it stands out in my mind as it is my driving desire.
Finishing well to me is not being number one on the podium having won at the expense of others.  Like the people that escape from a crowd serge, having stood on others to escape the danger.  To me finishing well entails having others finish with me.
I will never forget the image in the Invictus games a few years back - where a guy doing well went back and assisted someone else over the line.  Helping a person who was in danger of not finishing without assistance.  There are images in big events of someone helping another while competing.
I am a fan of Pixar movies (though since they belong only on a streaming service I have not been seeing the latest.)  But I will never forget the end of Cars where the hero who was about to assume fist place on the podium went back to assist a former champion.  He was thought well of while the actual winner was despised (not for winning but the way he won).
Naturally being number one on the podium is a desire of mine but really I want to finish number one on my podium.  By that I mean what matters to me is being the best I can be.  I feel I am my greatest adversary.  The race I run is not against others but against myself.  The thing is , I know I am not alone in that. 
The most important thing to me goes beyond qualifying for the race but finishing the race.  Anyone who enters a race has the same goal.  All the training is to maximise performance.  Maybe finishing first is a bridge too far, but as Steven Bradbury, the Australian Ice Skater showed us, anything can happen.
To me the goal is finishing as best I can and assisting anyone who needs it to finish well too.  A personal best is not necessarily the best time ever but the best finish ever.  Sometimes that is slower than I am capable of, but by assisting another to finish, I have ensured two cross the line rather than one.