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+--- Thread: Let's hear it for Rick Neal... (/showthread.php?tid=1011)
Let's hear it for Rick Neal... - El Gordo - 17-10-2005
http://www.neverdieeasy.org/
Not one to name-drop, but I met Rick Neal at Hal Higdon's house, overlooking Lake Michigan, in October 2002, after the Chicago Marathon - and we've kept in touch on and off ever since.
Rick was advised to give up running on health grounds, and has responded by aiming to run 4 marathons in 4 weeks. By my calculation he should have just completed the second (Indianapolis, after last week's Chicago), with another 2 coming right up. He is collecting for a very worthy cause. Please check out his website for details of the heart-breaking story of Robert Leavitt, and of Rick's marathon-tortured October. There's plenty of interesting stuff there. Please give him some encouragement.
I'll certainly be making a contribution to the fund, and hope that some others will too.
Andy
Let's hear it for Rick Neal... - Sweder - 18-10-2005
What a cool guy.
I'll be dropping by with a small gift just as soon as my new credit cards arrive - a bit of dumb wallet-loss followed immediately, in this order, by
a) frantic card-cancelling
b) immediate discovery of wallet
This is good stuff, Andy.
Inspirational at a time when just being extremely portly and unfit just isn't enough to get my sorry butt out the door.
Let's hear it for Rick Neal... - Iceman - 19-10-2005
Thanks for the added publicity, Andy, and the kind words from both you and Sweder. I have indeed reached the half way point of my journey. The website has race reports for both races if you care to read the gory details. An interesting note from a running standpoint - I was far less sore after the second race than I was after the first. I did run the second slightly slower and at a more even pace than the first but I was still amazed at how good I felt after race number two.
On a broader note, we all know of running for organized charities. I've generally steered away from them for various reasons, not that there is anything wrong with them. I'm sure they are all very worthy causes, but I just never felt the urge to run on their behalf. Perhaps I chose to do what I'm doing because I have personal experience with Robert and with Riley Children's Hospital and the amazing things they do to heal kids. I won't go into the details of the story here because you can get that from my web site. Suffice it to say that I undertook my little escapade, not because I wanted to, but because I felt I truly had to.
Thanks again, Andy and Sweder, for the assistance and the encouragement! You'll probably never really know how much BOTH are truly appreciated. ON TO DETROIT!!! (Yuk!! Detroit is such a Godforsaken hell hole! Why didn't I pick Paris or London?
)
Let's hear it for Rick Neal... - El Gordo - 19-10-2005
No problem, Rick... a bit of encouragement and publicity is the least we can do here, and I'm sure that several of us will do a little bit more than 'the least'.
It goes without saying that I'm impressed with your physical resilience this month, but strangely perhaps, I'm even more impressed by, and interested in, your mental strength. Even before we do a first marathon, we all know and expect that we will feel physically exhausted when the race is over, but I was quite taken aback - and continue to be - by the emotional hit that a marathon turned out to be. It can be an almost paralysing experience in the short term. The feeling is fantastic of course, but it can be sort of overwhelming. It's this that impresses me about your target this month. Even 2 in a row is a great achievement in relation to the standards and abilities of most of us here, but 4 in a row seems almost incomprehensible. I can't really take in how hard it must be to pick yourself up mentally and turn up the following weekend for yet another one of these darn things.....
When it's all over, I would really like to hear about this aspect of your month. In the meantime, all of us here (I'm sure) wish you all the best for the final races, and very well done on raising money for such a good cause.
Once again, if people haven't read the reason that Rick is doing this, I urge you to visit http://www.neverdieeasy.org/. This isn't an ego trip, it's something that I know from private correspondence that Rick has been strongly affected by, and wants to contribute something positive to.
Let's hear it for Rick Neal... - El Gordo - 01-11-2005
Message received from Rick Neal yesterday:
=========================================
"A few months ago I set out to run four marathons in 21 days to raise money for Riley Children's Hospital in memory of a little boy, Robert Leavitt, who lost his battle with Leukemia. I'm happy to say that I finished the fourth and final marathon yesterday in Grand Rapids, MI.. I want to say thank you to those who have supported and encouraged me with your kind words and donations along the way. Without you this crazy escapade would have been meaningless. This email list has changed somewhat from my initial announcement, so for those of you who don't know what I'm talking about, go to http://www.neverdieeasy.org to get the full story. Also, if you want to read the gory details of each race there will be full reports of each race on the web site shortly.
Once again I want to extend my gratitude for your support and say thank you on behalf of Robert's parents, Kenny and Vickie Leavitt. Your support will help a lot of very sick children and their families get through the most difficult times."
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Well done Rick. Fantastic achievement.