Blog I read today on nike.com

12by311

I could have written this! I love it!!
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Learning to Love
By TessWood / 28 March 2011 / 11:30 AM

http://inside.nike.com/blogs/nikewomen-en_US/2011/03/28/learning-to-love?sitesrc=uslp

From as early on as I can remember, my mother liked to show me off. I was her “lamby princess” who she couldn’t wait to tell her friends about. But as the progeny of two hard-core rowers, my most celebrated feature seemed to be my quads. My mom would literally be in the middle of a conversation and somehow turn it to include an “Oh, Tess, show them your quads. Flex your quads!”

I obliged, but at the age of four, this was a bit traumatizing. Yes, I loved attention, but for muscular legs? Kind of tough for a girl.

But it’s got me thinking: Although it’s hard to find a place for muscular legs in the world of oh-so-trendy skinny jeans, I’m actually quite a fan of mine.

They’ve taken me through a 5K when I was five years old, which—attention-span-wise—is impressive enough. When the T-bar lift would break down at the little mountain where I learned to ski race, my legs hiked me right up the hill so I could keep training. I’ve broken each leg once (both times skiing), but they always heal and I’m back in the game in no time. These quads have gotten me through countless practices, stadium runs, and high school swim meets; up and down mountains; and through a whole night of dancing in high heels.

Though grateful for my strong quads now, I’ll admit that high school was a self-conscious period for me. At the time, hearing “You have crazy muscle-y legs” from a guy made me cringe, but now, it’s the followup:“...for a girl,” that’s got me fired up. PLEASE: Girl or guy, these babies are awesome.

There’s taking care of your body to make it perform the way you want—but there is also appreciating and accepting what you’ve got. Whether it’s what you’ve worked hard for or what you were born with: Love it.

-Tess Wood