Au revoir, Grande Bold with Soy

I have a very exciting announcement. I have not had coffee in an entire week. For many of you, seven days without coffee may seem normal. For some of you, that might seem like a bit of a stretch but nothing too crazy. For me, I assure you, it is monumental. I'm not one of those who downs ten espressos a day, however, I cannot start my day without a full mug or two of the good stuff. I think it's partially the caffeine and partially the ritual of brewing and imbibing as part of my regular morning routine, but regardless of the root, I have decided that it is getting out of hand and adding far too much to my grocery bill.

I miss you...so very much

Yesterday I attempted my first morning run sans coffee. Ordinarily, I wake up about an hour before I need to hit the road, brew some coffee, hang out with it and eventually get myself ready for my run. This process means that I have to get up e-a-r-l-y. With some coffee in me though, I have no trouble getting in a decent run and off too work without too much yawning.

Enter the decaffeinated run. I was so excited to be able to sleep in a bit more (6:15, let's not get crazy) and thought I would have time to get in a longer run - I usually am only able to squeeze in 4-5 miles in the mornings. What I did not account for is how unbearably slow I would be moving. Yikes. There were a few people around me running quite quickly which I could neither mentally nor physically comprehend. I ultimately completed 4 miles at a 9:44 minute/mile pace which for me is actually egregiously slow. My marathon pace schools that. I also felt as though I was suffering from some form of heartburn - rather inexplicable and probably totally unrelated to my caffeine intake or lack thereof...anyway...

My only thought was - it can only get better...right? My hope is to run the Bronx Half Marathon uncaffeinated and as I have seven days to prepare my body for that, I'm sure I'll be able to acclimate {you couldn't tell, but that was sarcasm}

I'm not by any means trying to cut coffee out of my diet completely ~the horror~ I would just like to feel as though I can wake up naturally without it. Coffee is a delicious treat and should be treated as such, not as a daily dietary supplement. I'm aiming for three weeks without it as I read somewhere that developing a pattern over three weeks is a long enough time to form a new habit.

hello, lovah

In related news, I fell asleep last night at 7 pm with all of the lights on. Not everyone can have a Friday night like Katy Perry.

Have you ever tried to give something up?
Are you, also, addicted to coffee?
Should I just go drink some?