... or no Blue Monkeys!

Sometimes, you have to throw down an ultimatum. Sometimes, "ultimatum" = a great outcome. Take this morning, for instance.

I was 2:37:00 into what I was hoping was gonna be a 4:00:00 runwalk when I'd just dropped Vince and Jack off at their houses. They were heading to Shank's. (This is where, if my Verizon phone took photos worth anything at all, I would insert a photo of the world's most amazing blueberry muffins or chocolate cheese bread ... or make that THE WORLD'S MOST AMAZING BLUEBERRY MUFFINS OR CHOCOLATE CHEESE BREAD!)

Anyway, back to the run. Now I'm solo. Talk about a mega-serious dip in the Fun Factor. Enter the Annoying Voice. You know the one. "Dude. You've done way more than usual. You're the MAN! Stop now. What's the big?" Next, just a notch or two louder: "C'mon. 2:45:00 rules. Really. Who does that on a workday morning? Seriously. Five minutes to the truck. Call it now."

That's when it hit me. Blue Monkeys! Completely awesome pancakes filled with blueberries and bananas from Little Grill Collective, one of my favorite places on Earth.

Ultimatum time: "Look, here's the drill. If I get to 4:00:00, I hit the tall stack of Blue Monkeys. Any less, no go. Period. End of sentence."

Annoying Voice (wildly unhappy now): "Wait. No. Too much trouble driving across town for that. Plus, you have a crap-ton of work you need to get to today, all with deadlines. Now. Dude. Stop. Now!"

Just then, the biggest smile broke across my face. I had him. I really had him. And we both knew it.

Watch check says 3:32:00.

Annoying Voice (barely a whisper now): "3:32:00. You rock. Close it down now."

Me (really, really big face-breaking smile now): "Yo. Gotcha this time."

A bit later ... easing over to the Falcon ... 4:00:00.

Me (gathering my stuff and heading off to the shower): "Hey Voice ... suck it!"