So, Friday morning started with me apparently having no idea what day it was, because apparently getting Amy and Joe to the airport in the middle of the night will do that to a person. 😂
After approximately four hours of sleep, I got myself together and decided that the obvious solution was to do what I do: walk to Starbucks.
Because the Starbucks Carrot Method waits for no woman.
I headed out around 7:51 AM for my usual 2.6-ish-mile round trip. And I was moving. Not lollygagging. Not strolling around smelling the roses. MOVING. 😂
The weather was actually pretty nice for Phoenix, with a great breeze, so I figured I should take advantage of it before the heat decided to become personally offensive.
Along the way, I stopped to photograph some of the gorgeous prickly pear cactus I’d noticed earlier in the week. Wednesday I was too hot and miserable to stop, so Friday I finally got my pictures. And those dayglo pink/purple cactus fruits? Absolutely worth stopping for. 🌵💜
Then there was my usual neighborhood cast:
Crosswalk Lady was at her post, except apparently she’s leveling up too. This time she was sitting on that terrifying old wooden bench with what looked suspiciously like a 10-pound dumbbell, doing curls between crossing duties. 😂
I swear, this woman has been turning her downtime into a workout for almost a year now. Squats. Lunges. Whatever she can get away with between groups of kids. And now we’ve apparently entered the weighted-training era.
I see you, Crosswalk Lady. I see you. 💪😂
And somewhere in all of this, approximately half a dozen Canadian geese decided to provide aerial entertainment.
Eventually I made it to Starbucks.
And then…
THE PLOT TWIST.
The Starbucks was flooded and closed.
NO COFFEE.
NO EGG BITES.
I had just walked 2.6 miles in the Phoenix morning heat, gotten sweaty and gross, and my reward had apparently been revoked.
The Fitbit/Google Health/whatever-the-hell-they-call-it gods were also being rude. My walk came in at:
Walk Receipts
2.61 miles
1:20:29
5,865 steps
427 calories
101 bpm average heart rate
35 active zone minutes
Cardio load: 24
And apparently my heart has become so damn efficient at this route that my cardio load basically looked at the whole thing and went:
“Eh. She does this all the time.”
RUDE.
I even took a little break at my usual Starbucks midpoint bench to call Mom and tell her about the absolute shenanigans of the previous night and morning. Then I got back up and walked the rest of the way home.
So yes, there was a break.
But there was also a whole lot of walking.
And here’s where I have to acknowledge something we’ve discussed before:
“The coffee is just the bonus! The walk is the carrot now!”
Yeah.
Okay.
Fine.
Except after four hours of sleep, I WANT MY DAMN COFFEE. ☕️😂
The walk is great. I genuinely like walking. I’m glad I went. I’m proud that I got five consecutive days of movement in, especially while hosting people and dealing with airport shenanigans.
But sometimes the carrot is still a carrot.
And sometimes that carrot is an iced coffee and egg bites from Starbucks.
So I walked home.
Got in my car.
Drove to a completely different Starbucks.
And finally acquired the sacred combination:
☕️ REAL COFFEE
🥚 EGG BITES
😇 PEACE IN THE KINGDOM
And OH. MY. GOD.
IT TASTED SO GOOD.
Because after all that walking, all that heat, all that nonsense, and four damn hours of sleep…
I WANTED MY CARROT.
And I finally got it. 😂☕️🥚❤️
Five days of movement in a row.
2.61 miles today.
Neighborhood adventures.
Crosswalk Lady getting swole.
Canadian geese flyby.
Prickly pear photography.
Family/airport shenanigans.
A flooded Starbucks.
And eventually…
COFFEE.
Friday has been sufficiently Friday-ish. 😂
Let’s go see what Dailey and my grandbaby want to do today.
It all still counts. Always!💜
Read more.
Weekly Reads (Foodie Friday, Steps for Sips, etc.)
Starbucks Carrot Method – North Phoenix Walking Series
Incidental Exercise Receipts Hub