Just Rick: Never Give Up

Thursday, June 26, 2014

Never Give Up

It was two months ago today that I did the half marathon in Nashville ... or, more accurately ... when the half marathon in Nashville did me.

Ever since then, I've been in a funk when it comes to running. I haven't missed a single day, and I don't intend to, but the motivation just hasn't seemed to be there. I find myself worried when I run, tentative.

Is this an ordinary pain that I can push through ... or am I about to pass out?

I logged a little over three miles this morning, and the hill that I usually motor up without a problem got to me and I wound up walking a little bit. The long homestretch ... yeah ... I walked some more. My legs felt like concrete.

Here's the thing. Yes, it's been a lot warmer in the mornings than before I did Nashville. I've been taking a class at the Y that's left me wrung out, and we walked EVERYWHERE at church camp last week. That includes going up and down Mount Everest twice a day to chapel.

I'm tired, and I'm a little timid after Nashville. But I'm not giving up. Ever. That ain't gonna happen.

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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.