Summer lovin'

Tuesday = 3 hard, sticky, sweaty (but slow-ish) miles after work.
Wednesday = rest. AH.
Today = ~3.5 miles a 5:45am, which felt harder than the 7 I did last Saturday.

Tuesday's run sealed the deal for me - I need to run before work. It's been near or just above 90* most of this week, and I'm not enjoying running after work. With the heat, I feel more sluggish and like I cannot move. On top of that, I hate that my evening runs cut into time with my family and makes the whole evening rush even more "rush-y." I'm now newly committed to getting up early (5:15) and punching out my mileage first thing.

Today was day #1 of early morning running, and it was pretty tough to get out of bed. On top of that, my legs were definitely feeling the burn right from the start. Afterwards though, it was nice to know that my mileage for the day was done and as a bonus, I got to *feel* the achy muscles all day (a feeling I love!).

Although I'm only about 5 days into it, I'm feeling proud of myself for being more mindful about my eating. I have been very, very hungry at times, but I haven't caved. I've learned to distract myself instead of eating something, and even if my body isn't showing signs, I feel better and more svelte.

Progress on my challenges:

Today was day #1 of the Smoothie A Day in May challenge - I made a delicious smoothie for breakfast that had skim milk, a scoop of Optimum Nutrition 100% whey protein, half a banana, 4 fresh strawberries, coconut, and some ice. It was filling, but by about 10:30 I was really, really hungry! Tomorrow I plan on having a similar (smaller portion) smoothie as an afternoon snack.

Photo A Day:

Day two: skyline
{of my cozy little rancher on the hill}

Day three: something you wore
{a ruffled dress and wedges - it was hot today!}

So far so good, eh? It's fun to take part in these - it gives me a little extra mission for the day!

Good reads for today:

Clean eating for dummies {via Lindsay's List}: Makes it sound so do-able!

Just because you make money doesn't mean you know what to do with it {via The Thousandaire}: Reminder to get on that budget/money saving bandwagon!