[rkagerer]

...it's not a race, it's a lottery.

Yes, but everyone else is still buying tickets for yesterday's jackpot, while you're busy accumulating them for tomorrow's.

[copirate]

But yesterday's jackpot is still running, here. If you find a block on the public chain while the other miner kept their block secret, your block becomes the main chain. If they publish their block after you, both blocks compete for the head, but it's usually the first published one that wins.