Z1. Oct 1, 2013. Day1.

Last night you had what had to be the worst dream of your life. Never have you been so gripped by terror. Never. You awoke in a cold sweat, frozen almost to the point of pain.  As your stomach relaxed and your jaw unclenched, you walked over to the bathroom and stared into the mirror at your own reflection. Haggard, burned by the exhaustion of work and not enough sleep, you want the dream- the nightmare- to do what all others do. Fade. But it does not. It hangs on you like an albatross.

Running.  You were running in the high desert. Your lungs burned and stomach clenched to vomit but you couldn't stop running long enough to gag. The driving thirst. In the dream the word 'water’ had a solidity that you had never understood before. Your knee, your other ankle, they wanted to fail. They screamed at you. But you wanted to live more.  You focused. You ran to the large rock 100 feet away.  You reached it. You saw a post ahead. You reached it. And so it was, for miles.  A run measured in moments of survival. A stubby root seems to reach up to trip you. You fell, gagging out yellow, dry bile.  You ran again.

You realized that the dream made you feel that you didn't have a single skill that mattered. Not today. And the feeling of doom.  A sick, unshakeable feeling. You look at yourself in the mirror. You shake yourself. God you feel like an ass. It's just a dream, right? Wake up, you tell yourself.  What, I get the heebie jeebies from a dream?

You start getting ready for work. But you know. In the deepest part of your heart, you know it’s coming. Today you re-dedicate yourself to your health and fitness.  Your instincts are screaming at you that you are going to need it to survive.

You decide to test yourself. You complete any one of the following (no injuries!):

·         One max work out (push yourself to your limit)

·         Chop one cord of wood and stack

·         Hike a steep trail of at least 1000 foot elevation gain in 2 miles with extra weight in your pack, or stair-step the equivalent. Elko area participants, think Island Lake trail. Oregon participants think Coffin Mountain lookout trail near Detroit Lake. (***Elko open invite Oct. 19 at Island Lake, weather dependent)

·         Start a campfire without matches or a lighter. If you have done this before, do a different method than your previous experience.