The other night after social run when we were hanging out at East Coast Pizza, a bunch of us were talking about the various videos that are floating around right now.  Like “How animals eat” and the video of the cat in a shark costume riding a Room-ba and chasing a baby duck.  They are completely random and ridiculous, but guaranteed to make you laugh.  Then we started talking about the Dove commercial and Caleb said, “Linds, you should write a blog about that.” Oh sure, no pressure or anything…

That’s why it was so crazy last night in church, with Caleb sitting about 10 yards away from me, they showed part of the Dove video.

Have you seen this video that I’m referring to?  If not, you can watch it here…

http://realbeautysketches.dove.us/

Sorry, I’m not technologically inclined enough to do it the cool way where you can camouflage the link.

So, this morning I ran my last long run before I leave for Vancouver on Friday.  I got in a solid 10 miler and I felt great. Everything about my run was perfect. The weather was exactly what I’m hoping for in Canada next Sunday.  50+ degrees and overcast.  I could do without the chilly wind that was blowing this morning, but as long as it’s at my back on at least the second half of the course, I’ll be happy.  While I was running today, it felt so easy that I wasn’t really focused on running.  I did keep thinking about that Dove video.  For those of you who haven’t watched it yet, despite my attempt to make it easy for you by providing the link, I’ll summarize.  A woman walks in and sits on one side of a curtain; a man with a drafting board is on the other side.  He asks her to describe her physical features. He is a forensic artist so he proceeds to draw her description.  When she leaves, another person, who she had just met, comes in and describes her.  At the end she is presented with two drawings to depict how differently the world sees her from how she sees herself.  It provides this message for women, we typically don’t see all the beauty that the rest of the world sees in each of us.  Oh my…do I do this?  Probably.

While I was running today, I started thinking about how I would describe myself to someone in that situation.  Here’s what I came up with…

I have sort of medium length, very straight, blond hair.  My curly haired daughter always complains that she wishes she had gotten my straight hair.  The grass is always greener, right?  If you happen to catch me on a day that my hair is down, it’s likely the rare occasion that I have washed it.  Usually I’ve got it in braids, a pony, or a big mess on top of my head.  Frequently there is a visor involved.

I have blue eyes.  Not huge, not squinty, just average.  But I like that they’re blue, from my dad.

I guess I have kind of a heart shaped jaw line…whatever that means.  And I think my chin sticks out a little.

I’ve never particularly liked my nose, but I scrunch it up when I get nervous.  I never realized I did this until Faith pointed it out a while back. And I have a few freckles on my nose too.

People have always told me I have a great smile, just like my mom’s.  I think that’s right.  Even though I have a couple crooked teeth because  I was really bad about wearing my bottom retainer after I got my braces off in high school.  And it’s barely visible, but I have a small chip in my top right big tooth.  It’s a story from college that we’ll save for another day.  Sometimes I bite my bottom lip when I’m focused.

I have a lot of lines on my face.  The lines on my forehead show that that I’ve lived a lot in my years.  And I’ve had my share of trials.  The lines around my eyes crease when I smile, which is often.  And I have plenty of laugh lines around my mouth because, I think anyone who knows me will agree, I do love to laugh.

That’s about it.  That’s my face.

So, then I started wondering, what do other people see when they look at me?  I know what I want people to see.  I want people to see more than just my face.  I want people to see my heart. Because that’s where my beauty is.  I’m a writer, not an artist, so don’t make fun of me, but here’s a sketch as I see me…

That’s my heart. You’ll see that Jesus is at the center of it and all I really want to do in life is love people in a way that reflects His love for me.  Other things that fill my heart are my kiddos, my family, laughing with my friends.  Running, writing, traveling, exploring.  My heart is surrounded by good people, so many good people.  Which is exactly how my dad told me to go through life, being surrounded by good people.

That’s pretty much it.  That’s me.  That’s Rambling Runner Girl. In a nutshell.

That’s the thing that Dove’s video can’t capture.  The beauty on the outside doesn’t really show the beauty on the inside.  There’s so much more to each and every one of us.

I’ve said before that running makes me feel beautiful.  I’m not really sure why that is, especially since I’m all sweaty and not particularly graceful.  But I think it has something to do with an outpouring of my heart.  I am so thankful that I have a body that is capable of all these amazing things, and to waste it, would just be sad.  So, I won’t waste it.  I’ll be grateful.  And I’ll go to Vancouver next weekend with an attitude of gratitude and run my big ol’ heart out.  I might meet the goals I’ve set for myself, or I might not.  But I’m going to run 26.2 which is an accomplishment all by itself.  I love running.  I love running marathons.  Because that reminds me of all the feelings I have…happiness, nervousness, excitement, fear, freedom, pain, strength to endure it, elation.  All those feelings make me feel truly alive. And is there anything more beautiful than being alive and loving life?  I don’t think so.