No coffee for a week

GORUCK is bad for me.

Ok time to explain after two phrases that probably made you do a double-take and say, "Huh?" For those who know me, GORUCK, and coffee are two passions of mine.

Just to clarify, GORUCK is a military-inspired endurance event, focusing on teambuilding mixed in with physical training (burpees, bear crawls, squats, push-ups..), wearing a rucksack weighing 10-30 pounds minimum, and carrying cumbersome heavy things for long distances. Sometimes there's beer involved; once, a spicy sauce-laden burrito-eating contest. They are led by current or retired Special Forces service members.

(^^ How is THAT a passion of mine? You meet great people, and learn a great deal about yourself. Also, the guys who lead the group aren't going to go Full Metal Jacket on you...most of the time.)

I'm getting ready to do 3 GORUCK events back-to-back-to-back next week, 2 of them being overnight ones so a strategy that I've used in the week leading up is getting off of coffee (and mostly caffeine), until it's almost time to start the event. Ingest coffee and wham! Prolonged caffeine buzz, or so we hope.

How am I dealing with no coffee? I think I'm ok. Mind you it's only been about a day and a half, but it feels like a bit longer. Also, I haven't gone into a caffeine-withdrawal killing spree yet so that's a plus.

This morning it was the perfect moment - post easy 5K run, making breakfast which would call for a nice cuppa joe...

NOPE.

There were times yesterday when I told myself, "A coffee would be nice right about now..." And then I walked by a Second Cup where I could smell coffee being roasted.

There are suggestions out there on how to deal with this, like peppermint herbal tea first thing in the morning, apples, ginger infusions in hot water, sticking a fork in an electrical outlet...

It doesn't replace coffee!

This is only a temporary arrangement, I tell myself. I think most of us just want to sip on a warm beverage in the morning and in the afternoons after lunch. Japanese Genmaicha (green tea with toasted rice) isn't a bad option - still it's not coffee. Coffee pu'erh tea by David's Tea is maybe the closest thing I can sip and trick my body enough (thanks to sis' boyfriend for introducing me to that)

I think I'm ok.

Coffee would be good right now.

It's temporary.

*Decaf is not coffee*