Feeling Beautiful

When was the last time that you felt beautiful?
When is the last time you knew you were beautiful and that damned voice in the back of your head didn't argue with your knowledge?

Sunday could have started better, I was grumpy with Mr. K and almost forgot to feed the cat. Training this weekend meant getting a 14-mile run in, so I opted for 13.1 and did the Banco Popular Half marathon instead. Now I've relaxed from running after last year's Chicago marathon. Yes the tri includes a run portion but in the races I've done all the runs are about five miles (okay six) training for six miles is nothing like training for twenty-six!

The run was great, I found some team and training friends in the crowd, the weather was awesome, and the course was in a new neighborhood away from the tired Northside lakefront path, and away from downtown (read, Southside!). The run itself is always takes a good deal of mental effort to keep going, and I hurt like hell today, but once the race was over I felt beautiful. I was stinky, coated in salty film of dried sweat, stretching in the grass, eating a banana, lying there just knowing without a doubt that I felt beautiful.