Today I’m out in the wilds of rural Missouri for work. You know what this means? When you leave your house in a rush, thinking “oh, I’ll stop for coffee on the way,” you should remember that there is no such thing as a Starbucks or Dunkin’ Donuts in rural Missouri. There is Quik Trip, which has coffee that tastes vaguely like fuel and is not worth the $1.29. And that’s it.
It was a long, coffee-less drive to get where I’m going. Generally, I’m not a coffee-needer to get going in the morning. I usually brew one cup in the Keurig, and rarely finish it. But with Daylight Savings, and sore running legs, and driving,…all morning I was dying for coffee, or at least something coffee-flavored which would give me the illusion of being caffeinated. Ugh.
I had to be somewhere for a few hours in the morning and then had to go somewhere else about an hour away for a few hours in the afternoon. I was absolutely determined to get something coffee-like. Sometimes, friends, we have to settle.
McDonald’s sugar-free vanilla iced coffee. Full of crappy chemicals, I’m sure, but goodlord did it taste good (and pick me up mentally for awhile.)
I also packed my lunch in my favorite Fit n’ Fresh lunch container so I wouldn’t have to stop. I had an Everything bagel thin sammich, strawberry Chobani, and granola, eaten in my car. I’m a classy lady.
I was done with my stuff by 3:00 and checked into my hotel by 3:30. I decided that I was going to check out the hotel gym. Hotel gyms kind of creep me out. Even though I stay in half decent places…they make me feel icky. I don’t know, I have weird mental blocks on some things. (See also Home Depot, condiments, and birds.) But, today, I packed workout clothes and shoes and was determined to at least give it a try.
I was impressed with the gym. It had three treadmills, two ellipticals, a recumbent bike, and free weights (complete with loud, grunting, Jersey-shore-type dude). And every machine had a TV ATTACHED RIGHT TO IT JUST FOR YOU! Love. TV makes running 35% more tolerable.
I watched Stacy and Clinton, naturally. I had 3 miles on the schedule today, but I figured I’d do tomorrow’s 5 today, so I can get home after a night away a little sooner tomorrow. And really, what the hell else am I going to do here?
So yeah. Ran 5 miles, kept at an easy 10:00/mile pace since my legs were still a little twitchy from yesterday and sitting in a car all morning. Even though the gym was nice, it was really hot and I sweated approximately six gallons.
I showered and then went for the epic “What’s for dinner in this strange town?” question. My options, according to my GPS and eyes, were Bob Evans, Shoney’s, Hardee’s, McDonald’s, Burger King, and Cracker Barrel.
Now, I’m not one to shun fast food entirely. I love me an occasional McD’s breakfast and I get cravings for Arby’s. But the thing is, I want to eat that food WHEN I WANT IT. Today, it all sounded gross to me. Specifically, I was craving two things very strongly during my run: cut fresh fruit and peanut butter. More and more, lately, while I’m running, my body will say, VERY clearly, “Feed me THIS when you’re done.” 99% of the time it’s something healthy—peanut butter, fruit, and eggs have all been very common ones lately. I don’t mean to be all crunchy and shit, but who am I to say no? My body is like a stupid puppy—I should reward it when it does something right, like say “I want healthy food.” So I do.
Obviously, with limited options, it wasn’t going to come from any of those places. So I took a cue from Susan and hit up the grocery store next to my hotel instead! (In my pajamas, no less, because I really didn’t want to put on my work clothes and heels after a run.)
The results?
Total? $13.46, for a big container of fruit (grapes, mangoes, honeydew, canteloupe, pineapple and strawberries), a Dannon Greek yogurt (which I LOVED, BTW), a 6 pack of Nature’s Own Whole Wheat bagels, natural PB (I went for the slightly less natural version to avoid messy stirring in a hotel room), a diet coke (I know I know) and a Cadbury egg for dessert! Exactly what I wanted. (I obviously only ate 1 bagel with PB, and about half the fruit—it wasn’t great, unfortunately.)
I hope my per diem covers full jars of peanut butter.
Anyway, it was delicious, filling, and hit the spot and I’m glad I didn’t hit the drive through.
What foods do you crave, healthy and not-so-healthy? On the healthy front, like I said, peanut butter, fruit, and eggs are big…on the not-so-healthy front, I’ve been dying for ice cream after long runs lately!
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