Eat All Your Green Beans

Before I start on the race report, I thought it best to give a bit of my family background.

It was my dad’s 70th birthday on the 14th March and my 3 brothers and I each said a few words about the big guy. There are some great stories out there and we had the family and friends in stitches. One of the stories I told was pretty important to me, because it reveals a lot of my dad’s character and how he passed on key values to his boys. Here’s what I said:

“To this day you will note that all the Riccardi boys eat absolutely everything that’s on their plate. This isn’t an easy trait to instil in one’s offspring, especially with four testosterone fuelled boys in the home. My dad did it one evening at normal dinner with all the family present. I was about 8 years old at the time. When my mom asked if I wanted green beans or not with the main course, I politely indicated that I did not. My dad took the plate of green beans and turned its entire contents into my plate accompanied with the instruction that I had to finish the entire plate before I went to sleep. A valuable lesson that can be passed onto your kids in one easy move.”

And what followed from this is a well known family trait:- finish everything on your plate. And be polite to people who feed you.

Ironman South Africa
I’ve done this race twice. The first time was a week after my bachelor party and one week before my wedding. Since then.......(for more go to....http://robbyricc.blogspot.com/2009/04/eat-all-your-green-beans.html)

~RobbyRicc