Stress City: Population 1

My AICP test has officially invaded every aspect of my waking (and sleeping) hours. I have had several dreams/nightmares about the test and wake up almost every morning grinding my teeth. I am so ready for it to be over that I almost want to call the test center and see if there is an open appointment earlier than Thursday. Almost.

But other than being stressed, I am feeling more prepared. I nixed camping Friday in favor of staying late at work and studying. After studying, I retook a previous practice test and nailed a 91%. If only I could take the test, then see what I got wrong, and retake it. I'd kill it.

I took a study break Saturday morning for a short hike and then studied some more. Sunday I was feeling burnt out and decided to take the day off. In preparation, however, I drove down to the testing site in Greenwood Village and I'm glad I did. I filled up my gas tank so I won't have to on Thursday, plotted the location of the Starbucks along the way, and found out where the building was in a sea of office complexes (Joel Garreau would call the location an 'Edge City', according to my studying).

The neatest thing I learned from studying was that one of the professors at VT is a question on the test! So that one will be easy to remember.

In other news, I've completed my first full week of half marathon training. I lost a lot of the lung fitness I had gained back in March, but its coming back quickly. I ran 3 miles on Tuesday and Thursday and dropped 3 minutes off my time between the two runs. Yesterday I felt like crap but schlepted myself onto the treadmill for 4 miles. I've taken Hal Higdon's Novice training plan and incorporated biking, boxing, and yoga into it. Saturday is slated as a 'crosstrain' day and I'm leaving it open for either hiking, biking, or climbing. Towards the last month of my training plan I'll be adding swimming into the mix as I prep to do the swim leg in a Berger Relay team for a local triathlon.

I'm also, slowly but surely, working on improving my nutrition. I didn't have a single drink this weekend (yay!) and only bought a meal once - dinner with some girlfriends Saturday night. I'm working on 'rewarding' myself with physical activities instead of celebrating with alcohol or crappy food. Thursday night, my first non-study Thursday in almost 2 months, I've made plans with my friend Morgan to hit the indoor climbing gym nearby. I figure, pass or fail, I'll have that to look forward to. I can either celebrate with an activity I love or work out my frustrations on the rock.