Bitter, Party of One

Most mornings I make my first cup of coffee at home and drink it on my way to work. Within 30 minutes of getting to the office, I'm ready for cup number two, so I head down to DiBruno's for the most delicious iced coffee I know of. I get at least one cup a day, sometimes a second one mid-afternoon, so the baristas know me and get my large iced coffee ready while I'm in line, so it's sitting there for me when I get up to the register.

I've lamented before the fact that DiBruno's hasn't jumped onto the bucket-o-beverage bandwagon with most American chains. The largest size they offer is a (very reasonable) sixteen ounces. Some days, that's plenty. Most days, I suck it down instantly and wish I had four more waiting for me. I could get an extra-large 20 (or 30 or 40 or whatever) ounce iced coffee from Dunkin Donuts, but...it's just gross. It's weak, kind of flavorless and sort of reminds me of dishwater.

Well, this morning, I didn't make my coffee at home. I figured I'd head straight to DiBruno's instead. And much to my disappointment, they were out of large cold cups...so I was stuck with twelve measly ounces.

Let's say it didn't last long. And that I'm glad Starbucks is on the bucket-o-beverage bandwagon.


DiBruno's may as well have given me a shot of coffee.

It's no secret that work has been pretty stressful for me recently. Lots of hours, but also a huge sense of urgency where everything has to be done NOWNOWNOWNOWNOW - which does great things to my blood pressure, I'm sure. I've been trying to force myself to the gym, even if it's only for a half hour or so just to get a good sweat, because it really does help.

Yesterday, all I wanted was to run. Work and related obligations had kept me out of the gym for three days, so I was starting to get a little stir-crazy. But naturally, my knee was bugging me for most of the day.

And I just start to get bitter. I see people on the treadmill and I get consumed with jealousy, and let me tell you, it ain't pretty. "OH, it must be NICE to be able to RUN WITHOUT KNEE PAIN. You're not so great. I could do that too if my knees didn't hurt." I even get bitter towards people who DON'T have knee pain but choose not to run, like they're somehow obligated to engage in that particular high-impact activity just because their patellas are in the right place all the time.

Most of the time, that bitterness subsides once I get moving doing whatever it is I end up doing instead of running - whether it's yoga or hill intervals on the bike or just lots of [relatively] heavy lifting. I recognize that it's not rational, but I just can't help it sometimes.

Lucky for me, last night my knees actually behaved just fine while I was running. I ran about 1.2 miles in ten minutes, increasing my speed from 6.5 to 7.0 to 7.5 as I went. I probably could have gone farther, but given the pain I'd been having earlier in the day, I didn't want to push my luck. And happily for me, that was all I needed - it was enough to get me started on sweating, enough to get my heartrate up, and enough of a start that I didn't have any trouble keeping my heartrate up when I moved over to the bike for another 20 minutes. I wrapped it up with P90X chest, shoulders & triceps (I don't really care for this workout - too many weird moves), and returned home a much happier Chrissey.

I love endorphins. I also love that it's Friday. Plans for the weekend?