one entire year without coffee :O

okay, this ranks up there in one of the stranger things i've done (or should say, will admit to) - today is the one year anniversary since i drank my last cup of coffee!! for someone like me, who easily had drunk upwards of 3-4 cups a day, this was like climbing mt. everest, in the denial sense! no starbucks, no french press on the weekends, no dunkin donuts, no street corner vendors - it was straight cold turkey - and not one look back.

on thursday, february 11, 2010, i consumed my last cups of coffee. i had no idea they would be the last ones for the foreseeable future. the next morning began without my typical stop for coffee on the way to the office... and soon enough the dreaded withdrawal symptoms settled in and made the next couple of days a living hell of constant headaches. friday wasn't too bad, i had lunch w/anthony at bxl cafe that afternoon, in fact. but, by dinner, i was craving a caffeine.

saturday was the worst day of withdrawal symptoms - and it coincided w/the stratford sweetheart run. that race is always a fun time - but all i remember from that edition was a throbbing headache that just wouldn't quit. eventually, the headaches disappeared and for the next few days i was just listless - wondering what sort of insanity had overtaken me and convinced me to give up coffee?!

while i never imagined it would be an entire year, i had given up coffee for a month (and even for a summer) in years past. one thing led to another - and the chief impetus to abstain from coffee was the transfer over to tea - and the months just kept piling up. decaffeinated tea just isn't the same, i'm sorry to report. and i'm sure that i'll eventually go back to my old coffee drinking ways.

but, right now i'm trying to think of a way to celebrate this off kilter anniversary. high on the list is a cup of decaf... coffee :O