Pain, pain

  So I accomplished one of my goals last night - I ran 3 straight miles.  I've only done this once before - with Eryn a while back.  We were in a "zone" running by the river and just kept going.  Last night was the first time I actually made the conscious decision to run 3 miles and nothing less.
  I have worked out harder than usual in short bursts of time after work - pushing myself on the elliptical, weight machines and the track and I can already feel the change.  I miss this feeling - the muscle ache reminding me that I'm making an adjustment in my body.
  My first race for the fall season is only 16 days away.  More than enough time to keep pushing myself and setting up a new training schedule.  Although I love the schedules on Runner's World I am going to slightly adjust the one my instructor gave me for a race he wanted me to run in August (I couldn't due to move-in/training).  I am contemplating setting the self goal of either running the entire thing (and not worrying about time) or setting a new time goal.  Not sure yet - will probably decide as the gun goes off. ha ha
  I've also been loading up on veggies on a daily basis.  When I student taught (many years ago) my head teacher taught be a great "trick" - if you want more energy during the day, a feeling of actually being full and the ability to lose weight, you really should eat your fill of veggies.  Thankfully we have stir fry here most days of the week so I get pasta or rice and a ton of veggies.  Very filling and not too many calories.
  I'm still on the downward path on the scale - down to 144.6 with the goal of losing only 5lbs more and staying somewhere in between 139-144lbs.  I'm finally happy when I look in the mirror and that's what matters most to me - that I'm happy with how I look.  Of course, I'm also excited to go back home in a few weeks and look the same as when I left so that's always nice too. :)
  Planning on taking tonight off to rest my body and then a nice run this weekend (or maybe 2 runs).  We'll see how it goes. :)