Yesterday turned out to be quite the interesting day. I woke up to the official ambulance email containing the new published schedule. FINALLY! New town contracts created the need for a new staffing schedule due to shift cuts. Having to keep my trap shut and even lie when asked about it for the last month was starting to really get to me. I knew I was going to be on it. I've known for awhile, but the issue was that at least 4 people were let go, and I was the ONLY addition to the schedule. This ties into the drama that exploded the other night while I was at SOLO. My friend was listening to the coworker (whom I ousted from the Wed 24 hr shift) scream at our boss over the phone for being taken off the schedule. I was informed my name was mentioned in this screaming fit. Said person brought it on himself; it pays to work hard and do your job. He had to leave before our staff meeting the next morning because he was too angry with me. We used to be friends, but I think it's a safe assumption that we are not anymore. That's all I can say about this even though there is actually more to this story. But I am very excited to be going back to the ambulance. I realized my mistake in leaving by the second week at the chiropractor, and it's taken me almost 7 months to get back, but I finally got it. Relief. I like the crazy, uncertainty of the job since you never know what's going to happen over the course of a shift. And in celebration, I'm considering ending my 7 month long prank that I've been playing on one of the crews since my last full-time day last September. But I'll end it for maybe two weeks, only to just start it back up again. Ha ha. Pranks and EMS workers go hand-in-hand.
So since I'm supposed to be writing about my running (which seems to have taken a backseat to my drama lately), I guess I'll mention yesterday's run. Although, compared to the story I wish I could write here, it will seem very boring. :) Knowing I had to hit the staff meeting before heading to the office, I decided to stick close to home and run on the snowmobile trail in Madison. I was happy to find the trail fairly solid even after the warm temps, so I ran a pretty decent pace up to Lead Mine Rd and back. It's exactly 8 miles from the closed gas station where I usually park. Good rolling hills. Rushed home, made it to the staff meeting. I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw the person mentioned above wasn't there. From there I headed into the office where I would be meeting the new person I had to train. And, um, wow. Not fun at all. A very drab personality who is too cool for school. I guess she was a former big wig in the Bay area who seems to think she doesn't need to learn my job because it's beneath her. So, I'm training her in the few things she's willing to learn, and then she'll just have to get the rest on her own. I'm done. The office went from laughter all day on Wednesday to a very somber mood on Thursday. I was so willing to teach the other woman, but this one just brought me down big time. Just before we left for the day, she said to my other coworker and me, "Life just seems so unnecessarily hard here." I busted out laughing (in my head). She is in for a rude awakening; this isn't even close to life in San Fran. I think she's just in culture shock and will hopefully come around because if she doesn't, she will be miserable here.
Today was much of the same. I was teaching someone who appeared to be extremely frustrated with systems in the office and was expressing it constantly. I do understand that frustration, but it just wasn't doing any good or helping anyone. My boss was acting really weird in front of her, too. I wanted to walk out. 3 days left, though. I can do it.
Thank goodness we're out at noon on Fridays. I have 2 hours to get in a midday run, so I usually go somewhere close. Kevin and Alan had run a loop in Center Conway on Monday that I had never run before so I decided to check it out. I parked at the lake beach at Conway Lake where John and I are a fixture all summer and headed up Brownfield Rd. I actually felt really heavy and slow, like I had just gained 10 pounds, but I'm finding that I often feel this way on midday runs, so I think it just isn't my best time of day for a run (or so I thought). I wanted to add on a little so I ventured off onto Gulf Rd which was a really quiet dirt road with a pretty long uphill. The road was surprisingly solid, hardly a bit of mud. I did a little out-and-back and then crossed right over to Davis Hill Rd to loop back to Brownfield Rd and back to my car. I was surprised at how hilly it was and can't believe I've never thought to run out there. I've run Potter Rd before, but I really enjoyed Gulf Rd and Davis Hill. I ended up with 8.6 miles and decent elevation gain of 530ft. What I wasn't expecting was to see I had run it as fast as I did at 6:52/mi. With the climbing and the lead legs, I thought for sure it was slow. I really only run by feel when I'm training and never look at my pace. I always seem to be off from where I think I am to where I actually am, so I really need to get a grasp on matching the two up. Then, I get in road races and constantly eye my splits on my watch. I think there might be some sort of disconnect there that I need to work on now that I'm road racing again. But knowing me, I won't work on it. Ha ha.
This afternoon, I went up to Tin Mountain Conservation Center to meet with my new liaison for the Dirty Girl Trail Race that I will be putting on May 31st. This will be its second year; last year was a huge success. It's a trail race only for women that I came up with after taking over the Get a Running Start Race in 2013. I kept the Running Start race on the road for the first year but changed the distance and the venue. It was also pretty successful, but I thought it had lost its niche and wanted to completely revamp it, which I did. I don't know if that pissed people off or not, but, honestly, it doesn't matter. The women who came out last year "loved" it. I had over 100 registrants and 80-something finishers. It was definitely a course that no one expected (except my friend, Kyla, to whom I gave a course tour prior-to; she also ended up being last year's winner). The 3.8 mile distance was deceptive... on purpose. I also made sure it went the most difficult way possible. I purposely put the finish line visible around mile 3.4 just so people thought they were finishing, only to learn they were going right past it and had more to go. It was awesome. The wounds, the suffering, the compliments ("You used to be my friend," "Fuck you," etc). For most people, it truly was a sufferfest since most of them were new to trail racing. That was my goal, so this year will be much of the same. Today, I was asked to move a portion of it off of a certain trail; I pretty much said no. ha ha. Then I thought better of it and said, "Let's just play it by ear." I might as well have winked as I said that. So it will depend on the Lady Slipper situation that week. I really don't want to reroute it since it's one of the many difficult portions of the race, so I'm crossing my fingers. My only complaint from racers last year was the bottleneck after entering the single track; I tried to explain trail racing, but newbies really don't get it. So to reward them for their request, I'm probably going to move the start onto the road for more room to spread out. To punish them for their request, I'm going to start it on the downhill side so they have to start on an uphill. Ha ha. Oh and my shirt design idea is sure to offend someone, but that's my nature. Hoping I can pull it off. So if you're reading this, and you're a woman, sign up now. If you're a man, talk some random woman into running it and tell her it's easy. You/They can sign up here: Dirty Girl Trail Race.
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