Race Pictures

OK, so I was just sent a link to view my professionally-taken photos from the half marathon. I usually DETEST these photos and sometimes won't even click on the link to see them in the first place. This time, I actually liked a couple of them. I look so much better than I thought I would in a few and look pretty awful (like I knew I would) in the rest. But those couple of good ones brought a smile to my face. In one, I look really fast. In another one, I am passing up a guy! ;-) Really!

In looking through them, I see that I am definitely a heel striker. I thought I was doing better with that. Nope. I also see that while I am getting better/faster, I am still really overweight. Not as bad as in past races, but still more than I realized. I think I look better than I actually do. I am lying to myself if I think that I don't have a serious amount of weight left to lose. I told my sister, during the race, that I probably only HAD to lose 20 more lbs. She was kind and congratulatory. However, that is untrue. And she probably knew it was too, but was too loving to say it to me. But I'm saying it to myself, "Come on, Wendy. Get real." I look at myself in the mirror and think that I look fairly decent. I see a photo of myself and I am shocked. I really need to get serious about losing more weight. It doesn't have to fall off of me, but I have not even tried very hard lately. I have let myself relax and take a break. What am I doing? Am I serious about this or not? Anyway, these pictures tell the truth and I appreciate it. I need to be faced with reality.

I also noticed in the photos that I am fashion-disabled. I look like a dork. I need real running clothes. Maybe I will make a goal of buying them if I can take off 10 pounds? Then it would actually be fun to shop for them. Right now it would probably just discourage me.

I did not listen to music at all on this race. I think it helps that I had my sister and we were talking a lot. However, when we were running (which was most of the time), I still wasn't listening to music. I don't know if I need it. It's awkward to wear headphones around my neck for the whole race and not even use them. Plus it makes me look like a huge dork. Same with my fuel belt. It is excessive. My friend, Becky held it for me before the race and she said, "Wendy! This is really heavy!" I know I need my own liquid, but do I really need 40 ounces to weigh me down? And it makes me look hilarious. It reminds me of one of my first 5Ks I did. It was in September and HOT. I wore a big camelback for a 5K! Totally makes me bust out laughing when I think of it now. Super funny.

I'm learning. And there is still so much for me to learn. I am willing. I want to be honest with myself, because I truly want to progress. Anyway, I enjoyed looking at my race pictures and realizing these things about myself.