ride along #4

I don't know if it is just me but damn, time has been passing by way too fast. I feel like every day goes by so quickly that I can't keep track of what I've done on what day. And it is definitely not because I have been having so much fun that time is flying or anything. Oh well, I kinda wish my days would last a little bit longer.

Anyways, I had a pretty interesting weekend. On Saturday I got to ride along with the fire station right by my house near Baranca and East Yale Loop. They made me dress business casual and show up at 8 AM so I was pretty tired and uncomfortable the whole day. It was pretty chill hanging out with them though. I have been on a few ride-alongs before so I think I have the proper fire station etiquette down by now. The first part was pretty boring; I just helped them clean and vacuum a little and then one of the new guys just showed me pretty much everything on the engine. I know he probably did not want to waste his time showing me everything but deep down, I really didn't want even want to see it either. Haha, I guess I am there to learn but I guess I am more interested in their personal relationships and other aspects of the job.

For the majority of the day they had zero calls so the more interesting part of the day was probably when they were working out. They asked me if I wanted to work out with them and I really didn't want to because I was incredibly sore from lifting on Friday, but I kind of really didn't want to look like a bitch either so I just agreed. They asked me what I was going to do so I just said "Uh... I guess I'll just do what you guys are doing." Big mistake. They are pretty into crossfit training and I had taken a crossfit class before so I was aware of what I was getting myself into. Crossfit is a type of workout that is more built for endurance so it is constant and has very little breaks. (I belive I have blogged about it before so just scroll down if you you want to read more about it.) Anyways the captain is a 50 years old or so 6 ft tall guy, with a big mustache. He had huge forearms and legs and I could tell he was pretty jacked. The other firefighter was smaller but also looked pretty fit. The work out was a circuit: row 250 meters, twenty-one 95lb high pulls, 15 pull-ups. You do as many rounds as you can in 20 minutes without any breaks. Now, normally I would be pretty okay with it, but my legs and shoulders were already incredibly sore from the day before that just lifting the 95 pounds one time was very painful. The problem was, it was too late to back out now and I didn't want to complain about being sore. Before we started, for some reason the captain asked me if I wanted to get a lighter weight for the high pulls. I thought for a minute and said "Uhh..... Yes. Yes I do." Haha. I figured it would look worse if I rejected the offer and then failed during the work out.

So we started the workout. 20 minutes is a damn long time but I was set on giving it my all. I know for sure if I were doing this by myself or with my friends, I probably would stop within the first minute. I was just pushing through and about 10 minutes in, I was doing the high pulls and felt a pain in my hands. Didn't matter. The weight they gave me was only 65 pounds and I only had to do 21. The skin on my palms is pretty tough from lifting over the years. This is something I am personally pretty proud of, since wearing gloves is for bitches. After the set, I threw down the weight and to my surprise, my hands were bloody. A piece of skin about the size of a dime had been ripped off on each hand. I was really confused on how that happened, but I was more happy since now I had a legitimate reason to take a quick break. One of the firefighters that wasn't doing the same workout took me in and wrapped up my hands. The way he wrapped my hands made the injury look way worse than it was.

Here's a picture


Anyways, after getting that break, finishing the work out wasn't too bad. I was glad that I finished it and my body wasn't feeling as sore anymore. I was really glad I did it with them, because for some reason I kind of felt a closer connection with them and it made talking and joking with them easier.

The funniest thing was when we went out to dinner later, we were ordering at Rubios. When I went up to order the cashier asks me if I was a fire fighter too. I said "No, I'm just riding along." And then he looks at me with the biggest eyes and was like "Dude... what happened to your hands?" I didn't want to explain it to him so I just told him I got cut. "You got cut?" He looked like he was thinking that it must have been huge or something. He gave me a free drink.

All and all, I had a pretty great time. They got some calls during and after dinner and I got to see an old, overweight sick woman naked. She also pooped on herself. It was great. I don't really want to go into details but yeah... I would have very much preferred seeing a different call.