Color Run 2014!

Last week Brianna and I ran the Color Run that WGU paid for. It was awesome. After walk-running 3.1 miles, I got two free t-shirts and a muffin and Brianna walked away with a new pair of sunglasses, a sticker, and a temporary tattoo. All in all, a sweet deal.

We didn't get very colored, but we weren't trying as hard as many of the other runners.

There were I think five stations of colored chalk that we ran through on our way around downtown Salt Lake. Brianna and I are awesome out-of-shapers, so we walked quite a bit of it, but I still managed to get a blister from disuse of my running shoes. I should really run more.

Some of my fellow WGU runners were appropriately colored after their own jog:

It was such a fun experience that Brianna and I chatted and laughed and felt generally light-hearted the whole drive home. Once we got home and showered and washed our clothes at the laundromat, I sat down to read a book and I suddenly became overwhelmed with exhaustion. We had gotten up at 6 that morning, and I had gone to bed after midnight the night before finishing up a book I had been reading. Six hours is neither a typical amount of sleep, nor enough sleep for me, so I was DYING by that time. I crawled into bed where Josh was studying and lay down, thinking I'd close my eyes for a few minutes.

Three hours disappeared. Josh had to wake me up to watch Scarlet while he went to take a test, and I fought to shake myself out of the bizarre fog of untimely napping.

Later that night, still a bit in a fog, I was sitting on the lawn furniture of Costco while Josh was checking out our groceries and Brianna was spinning Scarlet around a lawn chair. I thought it was so funny that Scarlet kept her mouth open in amusement the whole time, so I started recording it. This is how we ended our day:

How My Daughter Has Changed My Body

This isn't going to be a blog post about the physical transformation of my body from pre- to post-baby. Although I have plenty to say on that subject and there is a plethora of other moms out there with their own posting on the topic, I mean to address the less noticeable changes of my body due to the existence of that adorable 18-month-old.

Josh and I went for a walk last week and for the first time ever, we let Scarlet walk by herself in front of us on the sidewalk. Everything was fine until Scarlet started to veer off the sidewalk toward the street just as we heard an approaching car turn onto the road behind us. Josh and I bolted toward Scarlet and I got to her first and snatched her up before she touched the street. Josh made to pick her up from out of my arms, but whether he could read something in my face or whether he just knew, he said instead, "I think Mommy needs to hold you for a minute, Scarlet." Somehow the only way to stop my pounding heart is to hold her little body up against it. Physical change number one: I can run faster than I ever had before--even faster than my husband, whose legs are several inches longer than my own.

Scarlet loves to be tossed in the air. I didn't dare swing her or play roughly with her when she was fairly young because she lacked the muscle strength to hold her limbs steady and she could never have held her head up safely as a newborn. Once she passed the year mark, however, I really started to play. I toss her in the air and catch her on the way down. I love how her face lights up, her mouth opens in a soundless grin, and she holds her breath until she's back in my arms, where she transports into giggles and laughter. She is fast approaching 30 pounds, but she doesn't feel particularly heavy when I heft her into the air and catch her again repeatedly. Physical change number two: My arms are stronger than they ever were before.

When I'm working on the couch, the laptop resting on the arm of the sofa, sometimes Scarlet gets jealous of the infernal computer and demands my attention. I have gotten very good at taking small, five-minute breaks frequently throughout the day so that I can give Scarlet some attention and occupy her with some activity before returning to work. Sometimes, however, when I don't have time to play with her, I'll let her lean on my legs and I'll lift up her body with my legs and bounce her and swing her from side to side, all while I remain typing at the computer. Physical change number three: My legs are stronger than they ever were before.

So yes, my body has changed for the worse in many respects: I can't run for as long, I can't hold a plank for 60 seconds anymore, I can't fit into my old jeans, not to mention the changes that are too indecent to write about (but more plaguing and permanent than all the others), but I also have changed for the better. I love the new me because it comes complete with a smiling girl who is currently dumping her sippy cup water over her pasta salad in her high chair. So, so worth it.