“Pretty Strong”

So I promised a Runner’s World article on beauty. Here it is. I particularly love the following paragraph:

My PRs will never garner attention or generate awards. But when I run, I am 100 percent me–my strengths and weaknesses play out like a cracked-open diary, my emotions often as raw as the chafing from my jog bra. In my ultimate moments of vulnerability, I am twice the woman I was when I thought I was meant to look pretty on the sidelines. Sweaty and smiling, breathless and beautiful: Running helps us all shine. A lesson worth passing along.

Yum, running. I’ve been experimenting a bit with running on the (unpaved) trails at the local large park. I love it. It’s hard, and I’ll probably twist or break an ankle before I toughen up and get better at balancing and landing, but there’s something especially exhilarating about racing (no matter my turtle’s pace) through forests, jumping over roots and barely avoiding sliding on the downs and feeling lungs about to explode on the ups.