Just Rick: Thirty Minutes

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Thirty Minutes

The goal has been in the back of my mind for a few days now, but I've not really mentioned it out loud to anyone until now.

In a little more than two weeks, Team Attila will be ready to rock and roll at the Nov. 19 Yadkin Go Far 5k. This event last year was the very first 5k I ever did, and I finished in a little over 47 minutes after walking the entire distance. This time around, I plan to fare a little better.

Here goes. I want to finish in 30 minutes or less. There. I said it. It's out there for everybody to see.

We did the 5k course on Saturday, and I made the distance in 32 minutes, 53 seconds. Then, last night, the ladies and I hit the track behind the Y and I did 2.7 miles in 24:40. Tack on another half mile, and at that pace, I maybe, maybe, maybe could reach my 30-minute goal.

Thirty minutes. Hills be danged. I'm going for it.

No comments:

Post a Comment

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.