MK and Topaz, ready to race. Photo – TC Wait
With the Northern Lights 300 just finished and Iditarod right around the corner, not to mention Iditarod drop bags due, it is hard to tell around here right now! But let me try and get y’all up to date.
Organized race sled. Photo – TC Wait
We finished this years Northern Lights 300 in a very respectable 5th place. You can see the standings here, it is in a spreadsheet so you will need to click the ‘finish’ tab on the bottom to see the final standings. I was beyond pleased with how the team preformed, and had a great time at the race. MUSH THANKS to all the race volunteers, checkers, vets, and the awesome trail crew for all their hard work. To the lodges that were our checkpoints, Thanks for the wonderful hospitality. Of course a huge thank you to my sponsors, especially Walt & Janet Tremer for sponsoring my race entry, and TC & Dave for hosting me and the Dew Claw dogs. Along with TC & Dave my handler crew also included Jenny & Paul. It means a lot to me on race day to have such great friends at my side. In addition to everything she was doing to keep me sane and get me to the start TC also took some really nice photos of us at the start. (see her album here)
Putting on new sled plastic before the race. Photo – TC Wait
I went into the Northern Lights with some personal goals that had nothing to do with place, and everything to do with performance. In particular I wanted to see how the team would handle a 100 mile run to the finish of a 300 mile race. For those of you who were following the trackers, sorry if I made you worry while I sat at checkpoints for so long, but it was all part of the plan. I was super happy to see the dogs had a great attitude and good speed on that last run. Apparently while the Dew Claw dogs were rocking my world, the world really was rocking. A major earthquake hit the area while we were on the trail, causing some damage and generally shaking people up. (see a news clip here) Personally I was exhausted and on a land trail, and had no idea it had even happened until I got back and heard the news. *Yes you really are that tired, and the sled kinda rocks along as it moved, I swear I had no idea it had happened. There were new sand boils and cracks, but nothing dangerous.
My other goal was to stay on track and get out of checkpoints on time. And managed to accomplish that as well. So all in all the race was a smashing success. In the process I learned something about myself. Racing used to be a much more social event for me, I enjoyed the chit chat at checkpoints and meeting all sorts of fun new people. But as I continue to try and push myself to improve I find that is no longer the case. Racing has become more intense, in no way less fun, just different. I find that when I race I take my dogs and go into a very personal private space. And although it means I may be less fun to hang out with during the race, ultimately I think this is a good thing. This space inside myself is centered and strong, and allows me to direct my energy in a way that ultimately benefits me and the team.
Miss Thistle Photo – TC Wait
For folks following along you noticed that I dropped a dog in Talvista. The trail to and from the Finger Lake checkpoint was fairly difficult with deep snow and punchy trail in places. Miss Thistle was working her hardest, and I didn’t want her to overdo it, so I decided it was in her best interest not to continue. She is an awesome leader and I want her to be 100% ready to run for Iditarod. So I gave her a kiss on the nose and sent her home early. You will be glad to know she is fine, and happily running with the team as we prepare for our next adventure.
On a related note: Yes I did say deep snow, in spite of the abysmal lack of snow in the Anchorage area the trail around Finger Lake has plenty, and the rivers by Yentna and Skwentna are in great shape.
Which leads me to: Iditarod. Everything I saw on the Northern Lights was great news for Iditarod, since much of it is the same trail.
And with Iditarod only 34 *EEK* days away that is my current focus. Before the race even begins drop bags must be done. Yes every single thing I will use for the entire race must be purchased, organized, and packed in drop bags. These bags are turned in on Feb 15th, a date that is crashing down on every musher preparing for the race. I have been joking that this year I refuse to wait till the last minute and panic. Nope, not me, I am going to panic now!
Flat Jacob helping with drop bags
OK seriously, what I mean is I have already begun. I have been picking one important task to accomplish each day; putting booties in four-packs and then bagging them for each run, making my human meals and freezing them, labeling the bags I will send out. Each day a new task to prepare for the final packing. Things are moving along nicely, although there is still a huge amount of work to be done.
Flat Jacob was pretty impressed by how much I will eat.
We are joined this year on our Iditarod journey by Flat Jacob. He will be helping with the preparations, joining us on training runs, and be my side-kick on the Iditarod trail. He has already endured a seemingly endless trip to town to buy human snacks, and helped label all the drop bags. While shopping his monkey kept trying to make me buy banana chips, but since I don’t really like them, and I am doing all the eating I won, and we got dried mango and cherries.
So there you have it, everything pre & post race at Dew Claw.
Again MUSH THANKS to all our sponsors, with you there is no way all of this would be possible.
We still have checkpoints available in our “Checkpoint Sponsor” program if you would like to be a part of Team Dew Claw, it is a team effort and long way to Nome and the only way to get there is one checkpoint at a time. (learn more)
