Just Rick: Master Motivator

Sunday, September 4, 2011

Master Motivator

Gray Garrison, the promoter at Bowman Gray Stadium and a realtor here in Yadkinville, is a master motivator.

The 5k fundraiser for the Victory Junction Gang Camp is less than three weeks away, and this morning at church, I spoke for a few minutes about the race I'm going to run and why it's important to me. I told folks how they could contribute and left it at that.

After the service, Gray came up to me and asked what kind of time goal I've set for myself. As I've written here before, I hope to run it in 40 minutes or less. I believe I might be able to make it -- the last two times I've done a three-mile training run/walk, I've finished in 36 and then 35 minutes. Add in an extra fifth of a mile and the very hilly terrain around Victory Junction, and I might be able to make it.

Maybe.

Gray grinned, took a $100 bill out of his billfold and tore it in half. He kept one portion and handed me the other. "You can have the other half when and if you make it in 40 minutes," he said. Then, he added something else that caught me completely off guard.

"You can have the other half for 40 minutes ... and I'll double it if you finish in 35."

No pressure there, huh? I'm not promising anything, but I'm going to give it my best shot. Here's a thought ... if I finish in 30 minutes, how 'bout naming me the official pace-car driver at Bowman Gray Stadium next season?!?

What say you, Gray Garrison?

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Why Just Rick?

Jeanie said one of the nicest things she's ever said to me recently, and out of that came the title of this blog ... Just Rick.

I spoke at a local church, and during the presentation, used some personal pictures from a few years ago. My weight-loss journey was not the topic, so I just showed the photographs and moved on without mentioning it.

Later, while we were driving home, she mentioned the photos.

"They were amazing," she began. "I don't think I'd realized how much weight you'd lost until I saw them."

I laughed. Really? I've been busting my butt for more than four years now, and you didn't notice? Geeeee ... thanks.

"No, that's not what I meant," Jeanie said. "I never saw you as being fat. I always saw you as just Rick, and that's the way I see you now, as just Rick."

I wish I could say the same, that I saw myself as just Rick when I looked in the mirror once upon a time. Instead, I was the fat kid who loved sports but couldn't play any very well at all. As an adult, I was the fat guy who'd been embarrassed by my weight more times than I could ever begin to count.

Even now, the memories stick with me. They're motivation to keep going, even when a run is getting really, really hard or I just can't imagine doing another rep in the Body Pump and boot camp classes I'm taking.

Come on, Fat Boy ...

Just Rick.

At my heaviest, my worth was not determined by my weight.

Today, my worth is not determined by how much weight I've lost, although I'm glad it's gone. My worth is determined by who I am as a husband, a father and most importantly, as a child of the One True King.