I am feeling a bit singled out lately by fate (no, it’s not the virus; it’s much more trivial). A couple of my sacred rituals have been threatened. I adore coffee, really good French roast coffee. I love the smell of it brewing, the sound of it gurgling into the pot, the way the dollop of cream swirls into the rich brown, and the quiet of the kitchen as I sip it and read the paper. I’ve been buying my beans from Misha’s coffeehouse in Old Town, Alexandria for about 20 years now. We have a high-quality grinder, and we upgraded our coffeemaker this past summer. We always make a pot in the morning and split it. Well, I’ve been getting stomach aches several mornings a week for about a month now, and a tiny, annoying voice has been telling me it’s the coffee. I kept ignoring it and continued to drink my two and half mugs each morning. I finally did a little research to find out how to mitigate it, and I read I should drink a tall glass of warm water with lemon before I drink my coffee. I’ve been doing this and cutting back to one mug for a couple days now, and it seems to be working. I sure would like that second and half cup, but I like not having a stomach ache even more.
That same irritating voice was not done with me. My heel began to hurt a few days ago, and that voice started making noise about my running habit. Yes, I’ve been running more than usual, so what? How else am I supposed to counteract all the baking I’ve been doing? I have a healthy sourdough starter, for Pete’s sake! I showed that pesky little voice the door and kept running. Not smart. I woke up with more heel pain yesterday, and that term dreaded by runners the world over flitted through my mind: plantar fasciitis. Okay, so I figured it was time to run like the barefoot runners, balls of the feel down first – you know, save my heel. I ran for five miles like that yesterday. It was awkward, and I woke up with very sore calves today and a stubbornly sore heel. Okay, fine; I agreed to give the running a rest today. Instead, I did a couple free workouts online that Gold’s gym has been offering (free if you don’t count my currently useless gym membership). I’m really not okay with not running, but I would be less okay with a permanent injury. I guess I’ll wait a few days and see how it feels.
These two rituals are such an important part of my day and help me define myslef. Who am I, if not a coffee-drinking runner?
My Corner of the Village 