June 2nd is the date for the 20 mile run for Anchorage participants, it is also the date we leave for San Diego. As the coach for Anchorage, I decided to take a later flight so that I could be with these peeps on their last long run and then depart to San Diego and be there in time for the Pasta Party. Initially the run was set for Sawyer Camp, which is a great place to run if you are doing 12 miles or less. Anything longer and you end up doing more than one out and back. In other words you go out six, come back for 12, then you have to leave that spot and go back out the way you came for another 4, and then return. BORING.... And if you have never ran 20 before that can be brutal. Coach Tim suggested to Coach Doug over the weekend that we do it instead at Los Gatos where you can do a traditional out for 10 and back for 20. Doug loved the idea and it was all set.
Becky, our run team manager is upset, mainly because she was never consulted, and starts pitching a fit, not to Tim, but to everyone else including the South Bay run team manager as well as the Marathon Director. Seeing as though I was going to be the only one of the staff present on June 2, I decided to weigh in with my own reasons for wanting to do it at Los Gatos, and this was her response to me, copying everyone else:
"Hi Chris,
I totally understand this would be a better location for you:-) It would have been fine to designate this as the run location back in January.
But, since we have 10 teams a season requesting about 10 permitted locations (tri requests 20) per team in one season (and multiple that by 4 for the entire year) ... we need to follow a procedure for permitting. Basically the head coach has to fill a detailed list of run locations/dates with waterstop locations in addition to the run route so our permit person can request permits from the appropriate park and rec areas and manage the permit budget. In the past this has not properly been done and LLS...."
ZZzzzzzzzz I won't bore you with the entire message but I will say that she basically lectures me on permitting for another two paragraphs.
So in response to this thing, I composed this:
Becky,
I've been doing this for a few years now and for a time I even dated a run team manager, so please believe me when I say that I fully understand the importance of permitting. Thanks for the offer, but I think I'd rather go to an insurance seminar than listen to the permitting process in greater detail. Now, back to the point:
Deep within that procedural rant you sent me I detected between the lines that this is much less about protocol and a lot more of you being upset about not being consulted on a decision arrived to by the head coaches. I can't help but think that if Doug and Tim came to you and said "hey, we think Los Gatos makes way more sense and since there are only about 20 people running, we probably wont need a permit, what do you think?" common sense prevails and I don't think we are having this conversation right now. If this was really about procedure and following rules, I don't think you copy the other coaches and other members of your staff(excluding Tim) for support. I think you would have gotten on the phone and talked to Doug and/or Tim and let them know what you thought.
I also found it ironic that in your second letter you tried to make this about me and my logistical convenience on June 2 in lieu of what this most likely is, your ego somehow being threatened.
We can do better than that, can't we?
Regards,
Christopher Barber
P.S. On second thought, I think I would like a more detailed explanation about the permitting process. No rush, whenever you have time...
Should I send this? I will let you vote and decide. click the comments section and let me know what you think I should send it or eat it!
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