I survived my working weekend

[k9kreationz]

I gotta say, I'm more tired and sore than when I run. I worked all day Sat/Sun for a trial that I wasn't running in....for my new club. I got 2 vouchers (they say for one entry, I'm assuming that means for 1 run). That's cool. I finished up my 4 hour mandatory volunteering and I get 12+ hours for next year, which means at least one days worth of entries (I think, lol). Woohoo!

Hospitality is HARD. I was chopping fruit, wondering how all this will fit in my car. Wondering how it would fit with dogs and equipment (it wouldn't, good thing I wasn't running). 2 ice chests, tons of food, wow! Then I had to pick up lunch...alone. Hard to do when I was blocked in (parking). lol.

The worst of it though....having to be there before everyone else. So, I was up at 5am, there by 6:30am. Bleah. Oh wait, that wasn't the worst. The worst was that this was supposed to be our COLD and RAINY weekend. It poured on Friday night, but thankfully, on Saturday it was dry. Well, it wasn't raining. But everything was muddy. Yuck. It was cold, but not super cold.

Sunday though. I got in my car and turned on my windshield wipers and wondered what the heck happened, it made it worse. I tried again, worse. I realized...ohmigod, my windshield is iced up. LOL. Never had that happen before. I was already driving, so I drove slowly (thank gawd no one was on the road) until my windows heated up and defrosted. Got to the field, the grass was iced up. It was about 36 degrees. Brrrr. Hey, this is cold for us SoCal ppl and doing this outside? Brrr again.

A woman who I trains with, showed up with her French Bulldog and Chihuahua. She said, "these dogs are not meant to run in this kind of weather". Even the Cavalier was shivering. I got a lap full of Frenchy. My pants were now covered in mud (again) and boy were her feet cold! I'm glad I could help warm her up. lol.

My legs have never been muddier. Dogs jumping up on me (in my lap, or just up on me). I've never been more tired either. Having to make sure all the food was out, there was enough, etc. And of course, Saturday we forgot the OJ, Sunday, I forgot the fruit I cut up, so now I have a ton of fruit to eat at work. lol.

I had a fun weekend. It was nice not having to run and working as much as I did (I also pole set, leash ran, and scribed about 8 runs). I felt bad because the woman I typically go with, she was sicker than sick, and she runs two dogs, she's either dedicated or crazy. So, I guess I shouldn't complain. Yes, I'm tired and achy. But I'm not sick and I'll recover fast.

After this weekend I've learned a lot about hosting a trial. First....I realized I never want to do hospitality and run my dog, lol. Too much to do. Secondly, I really really really hate pole setting. (once my poles were crooked, twice I had them set one wrung off, and once, I totally missed a down pole. so embarrassing ). I give everyone credit for any work they do at a trial. Typically I will time, scribe, or leash run but that's about it. I think I'll stick to that, lol.

Wow. That was an experience, that's for sure. And I'm sure that's only a small part of hosting a trial.

 

[corbinam]

I am glad you survived! That sounds exhausting! I've never really done the hospitality stuff, but the other stuff sounds familiar. There are about a core group of 10 people that help to put on our trials, and DH and I are two of them.

It's exhausting for sure. We work every single run we aren't running, and by the end of the weekend when everyone who isn't running is gone, we're course builders, timer/scribe and bar setters all at once.

I got volunteered (somehow!) to be the trial secretary for our next trial. Please send lots of good, organized thoughts my way!

 

[Hurtseverywhere]

Glad you survived, really gives you an appreciation for what goes on to put on a succesfull trial, weather sounds like it was horrid.
Our club fun event went off well for the first one about 20 dogs, I didn't know we had that many in the club to be honest, a good time was had by all. I got tasked with doing the March one, at this point I am thinking about doing an introduction to agility games and setting up a couple of different snooker Runs. I have had a few members ask me about games but they don't have a clue, so I am thinking , some exposure to snooker under a no comp setting might be helpfull to them, to try and figure it out.

 

[Silaria]

There is a lot that goes on behind the scenes at a trial and until you get your hands in there its difficult to see it all. I actually just volunteered to be on one of our trial committees so I'll really get a look at some of the behind the scenes work that goes on even before you set foot in the trial venue.

When I work at a trial, I like setting bars (get to watch all the dogs run that way), run leashes or gate steward. I dislike timing or scribing; I get too nervous that I'm going to do something wrong. If I have to time, I'd rather time a class where our automatic timers can be used.

 

[Fergus]

Wow...Sounds like quite the busy weekend. But I'm making a mental note never to volunteer for hospitality . Was your trial outside? I got cold just reading your description!

I think that's cool that you earn entries for volunteering. Neat idea. Our club does a volunteer raffle so if you volunteer for at least three things your name goes into the draw for a prize. I'm not sure what the prizes even were this weekend 'cause I was too busy to look!

I did a few stints as ring crew this weekend for the very first time. I asked them to let me do something I couldn't screw up. They told me to ring crew and set poles. Then I ended up thinking we should have covered things like 'how to set poles' in class. Thankfully there were lots of other people there to point out that spread jumps need more bars and trivial little points like that. I liked doing the leash running and checking out everyone's cool leashes....note to self: must buy a new one for Clancy

 

[k9kreationz]

Ashley: I don't think I could be that busy. Ugh. Maybe it's because I work M-F and typically Sunday's are my do nothing days. So when I have to do things, I am just out of it for the rest of the week. I honestly don't know how people do it. I feel so old. lol. Wishing you lots of organization for your upcoming trial secretary job.

Robin: Definitely have a better appreciation for it all. And learning games at a non competitive environment is great. I know our club is going to have a practice dedicated to USDAA and their games prior to hosting a USDAA trial. Trust me, so far I've learned everything at trials, it would be a lot nicer to learn them in a fun place, so get those agility games going.

Sheri: I do get scared too about scribing. But y'know what? People have screwed up my sheets, so be it. I have messed up more with timing (auto) than anything else. Sad, but true. Mostly because the timers get screwy, so the timing stops, but I'm not watching the actual clock, lol. Ugh. And no way would I time if it wasn't automatic. I have yet to do anything for AKC. All their hand signals (judges) are crazy. Now THAT I wouldn't want to time.

Norah: Yeah, hospitality, ugh. Definitely not my thing. And to make matters worse, I was snacking all day because the food was right next to me. Ugh! LOL. Y'know, I agree about pole setting, especially when you have more than one pole per jump.

This weekend, there were two poles per jump. When we'd hit 20", some people would leave a pole at 8" and move the other one to 20". Some would be at 20" and 10", some 20" and 12". So frustrating and I have no idea if it'd throw the dogs off, but the judge didn't say anything. I especially would hate to pole set for AKC or any venue that does doubles, triples, and spread jumps. WAY too many poles. LOL.

I don't mind leash running. Of course though, once I did it in 100+ degree weather. That was NOT fun. And they ran Elite/Elite (two rounds, back to back) so that was a LONG long time. I think I got a nice tan though, lol.And um, yeah. That's how I kept wanting/buying new leads. Because everyone else's was COOLER than mine.

Oh yeah, we were outdoors. I don't think there are ever any indoor trials where I am. And this weather was unusually cold for us. I would say our temps don't hit low 30's that often.