Have you seen the new Dove campaign? If not, in a nutshell, Dove posted a three-minute ad on YouTube that teaches a vital lesson about how we view ourselves compared to how others see us. The tagline of the campaign is: “You are more beautiful than you think.”

It made me giggle. Don’t get me wrong, I totally ‘get’ the campaign. It moved me and like others, I shared the clip on various social media platforms. But it did remind me of an old video clip of myself taken 5 years ago. The clip was an eye-opener for me and reminded me that how I view myself is not always how others see me.

You see, I entered the Two Oceans 8km fun run in 2008. A close friend managed to take a video clip of me running to the finish line. When I watch this video, I can die of embarrassment!

It’s weird to see just how odd my running style was (and is still today). It’s a shocker! As a newbie runner, I had no proper running kit so I ran in my gym pants. I’m slouched forward, terrible running posture. My running pace looks like I’m taking a Sunday stroll through the park but yet 5 years later, I still run this slowly. I would never have realized this unless I had seen that clip. In my mind, I thought I looked like any other professional runner.

It’s so good to look back and see just how far I’ve come…

The message of the Dove campaign has one thing in common with running though. It’s how I love the look of my face after a run. No make-up. Red cheeks. Flushed and sweaty. Big smile on my face. Medal around my neck. I practically glow!

It’s the one time when I don’t wear make-up that I truly do believe I look more beautiful than I think.

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