Preparations Update

One week from today our adventure officially begins.

So. Excited.

While spending the majority of my time obsessing and preparing for the journey, there have been a few other things happening recently outside the realm of cycling and Bike & Build. Thus, a life update:

-This past Friday I took the MCAT (Medical College Admissions Test)
For those of you unfamiliar with this exam, it is one of the more stressful endeavors in the life of a pre-medical student as it partially decides if/where you can go for medical school. A quick summary of my MCAT experience: holycowwhatdothepeopleataamcthinktheyaredoing. Following my arrival at the test location at 7:00 am in downtown Tampa, I was told at about 8:40 that the servers had crashed and I would not be able to take my exam. I was given a number and told to call and reschedule the exam for a later date. The wonderful woman at AAMC I spoke with told me that there were no other testing times in Florida until August. Awesome. I expressed to her in the kindest way that this was not an option as I was about to leave for the summer and needed to take it that day. After some shuffling about, I was able to schedule for a 2:30 exam in Temple Terrace. As it was only 10:30 at this point I decided to go home, get some lunch, and maybe look over some notes. Within 5 minutes of my arrival at home I received a call from the test center in Temple Terrace asking why I had failed to show up yet. Apparently a communication issue occurred and I, with all the quickness my little car could muster, took off for the test center. One would hope that the testing gods would have pity on me and grant me a simple exam after such an ordeal cleverly designed to blow my psyche, but no. Moral of the story, I am very curious to see the results of my adventure come the 25th of June. At least its all over now (Hallelujah).

-Med School Applications are opening up!
I am swiftly trying to fill out the 5 million pages of applications before next week, though I don't think it would be possible to make a more convoluted method for sending out every piece of information about your life to schools. Once again, more writing than an engineer should ever have to do.

-NYC road trip!
With the help of the stunning Lexie Mannix, I will be taking the big apple by storm. Departure time is set for tomorrow evening with a possible VIP appearance in Gainesvegas for the evening, before cruising the east coast for a splendid 20+ drive. For those of you in the know, Rent the musical is being retired from broadway (though the date seems to be postponed daily) so at the request of Madame Mannix, we will try and catch one of the final shows. Likewise, I feel it is un-holy to visit the city without a pilgrimage to the cornerstone of american art: the Blue Note. Word on the street has it that the Jon Faddis Quartet will be headlining while we are in town, though there are a few late-night jams with Cate. Expect jabberings about increadible music next week regardless.

-Training
Alright enough chit-chat, back to the meat and potatoes. Training is going well for the trip, though I fear that the time I've had to dedicate to preparing for the MCAT has left me behind the curve for getting physically fit. This semester I was fortunate to ride with not only the Gainesville Bike and Builders, but also team Vet-Med and a small group I was invited to ride with by Dr. Vagg. Riding with these groups as well as solo has ranged into the 50-60 mile range but I have still yet to venture into the realm of rides I am expecting from this summer.
Training has also manifested itself in the form of racquetball, running and (thanks to Chris Obara) swimming. What I've discovered from this is (1) forgetting to stretch before running is the fastest way to make your knees hate you, and (2) I was not made to swim and should be removed from pools by force for holding up the lap lanes.
I finally ran my first 5k (woot) and finished in 22 min even. I don't even know if this is a time to be proud of but regardless, it was fun to try.

This is Brenton D. Finklea signing off, you stay classy America.