Training Journal

March 20, 2005

12:15 A.M.

It's late Saturday night, or early Sunday morning. We just got back from Anchorage. All of the dogs are doing well and so are we. Sandy's been telling lots of stories, so tomorrow she's going to sit here with me and tell a few so that I can type them out.

It's been a long day. I was up at 4:30, went to the airport, and caught a plane to Anchorage. Amy and her dad picked me up and took me to Scott and Laurie's. We went out for breakfast, listened to some Sandy stories, came back, loaded up, and headed for Fairbanks. Good to be home! More later.

March 17, 2005

10:15 P.M.

Sandy is still in Unalakleet, but the dogs have been shipped back to Anchorage. She got everything set up with Scott so that he could pick them up. If all goes well, she'll fly down there tomorrow. I'm flying to Anchorage on Saturday and then we'll drive them back.

I was sorry to see that Paul Ellering also scratched, but Sandy thought is was noble of him to scratch with Rachael. According to what I've read, Rachael is still going to Nome to the banquet. I'm glad she's going to do that, but Sandy and I have decided just to get the dogs and come home. I was went to the banquet in Nome when Sandy scratched in 2002 and it was a very unpleasant experience. We both thought we'd pass this time.

The dogs that are home are getting impatient and want to start running again. We've done a couple of short runs with them this week, but I don't know when I'll get out again.

We sure enjoy and appreciate all of your messages. It means so much to both Sandy and me. She did a great job this year, but the conditions were just pretty extreme. It's amazing how she always picks the tough ones. In the year that I ran the Iditarod, we had hard and fast trail most of the way. It never got below -20 and didn't get above freezing very often. The most wind we got was maybe gusts of 15 mph on the coast. It was 20° , calm and sunny on the day that I crossed Norton Sound between Shaktoolik and Koyuk. Sandy's first experience was windy and stormy and this year it was even worse.

Will there be a next time for this race? I doubt it, but don't worry, I'm sure we'll find some adventure to keep us forever young.

March 16, 2005

7:30 P.M.

Sandy is in Unalakleet tonight. She and the dogs will be flown to Anchorage tomorrow. The wife of a consistent top ten musher looked at Sandy's dogs at the airport and didn't think that they looked too skinny. Just what I thought.

Today hasn't been a real great one, but it'll take a few days of grieving over this whole thing before we move on. I read the official press release from the Iditarod Trail Committee this morning. The release stated, "The 57 year old rookie musher from Fairbanks Alaska cited a soft trail, and heat as her reason for scratching. She said her team was not conditioned for the warm temperatures encountered on the trail." I talked to Sandy on the phone and she explained how Mark Nordman, the race marshal, talked to her on the phone last night and said these words to her and she just agreed with him.

I don't want to get in to the whole political thing about the Iditarod, but there is a double standard between the top twenty and the rest of the pack. Sure I'm bitter about the whole thing, but I know enough people who have finished near the top many times and will tell you that their dogs can get just as skinny. Matter of fact, they have been embarrassed because the vets were telling them that their dogs looked fine. The people in the checkpoints are also in a hurry to get out of their and get to Nome for the big party. They really rush people along in the later stages of the race. Since the race is getting faster, they expect the back of the pack to get their faster too. So that's why they invent reasons to get rid of teams. This isn't the first time it's happened in this race and definitely not the last. As I'm writing this, Rachael Scdoris is scratching from the race too. So... they just keep pecking away at the back of the pack until they get to a team that they think will make it there by the banquet. It'll be interesting to see if that happens. Paul Ellering is now on his own and I think that he can make up a lot of time. Shane Goosen will be on their list. He was on it early in the race in 2000 and he scratched by McGrath that year.

Okay.... I'll quit... but just watch what happens. More scratches from the back are bound to happen.

March 15, 2005

8:30 P.M.

My birthday is tomorrow, March 16. I always tell people that I was born between the Ides of March and Saint Patty's Day. That's why I always wake up on March 15 and think, "Beware of the Ides of March." When Sandy raced in 2002 she scratched on my birthday. This year she scratched on The Ides of March. Yep... it should be official about now.

I got a phone call from her about an hour ago and I could hear her crying on the other end of the line. The vets looked at her dogs in Grayling and felt that five of the twelve are too thin to continue. She could continue with seven dogs, but it the conditions just aren't right for that. If it were cool with a hard fast trail, then she might try it. But it's awfully slow going out there right now and her two main leaders are among the five that she'd have to drop.

She made the right call on this one. We're both disappointed, but it'll be okay.

5:50 P.M.

She's starting to put some good runs together! Her Anvik to Grayling time of 2:45 is a good running time. Rachael and Paul took 40 to 50 minutes longer on that leg. Sandy's time from Shageluk to Anvik was an hour and five minutes faster than their times. She only rested for fifty minutes where they rested and hour. So, she made up about two hours in that 45 mile run. What she has to do now is cut her rest down from ten hours to a more realistic six or seven hours. If she can do that, she might catch up with them. I don't necessarily want her to beat them to Nome. I just want her close to them because of what's ahead. I just spoke with Rick Mackey a couple of hours ago and he's worried about the trail blowing in on them on the Yukon. Two inches of new snow is in the forecast for tonight. At least the twenty-five mile an hour winds should be somewhat to their backs. It's not going to be a pretty evening on the Yukon, that's for sure. It's easier for the dogs when they're close to another team because they can follow the scent. If she's a few hours behind, her dogs won't smell the dogs in front of her. So... that's the importance of heading out at about the same time as Rachael and Paul, even if she has to cut her rest down to six hours or so. More later tonight.

March 14, 2005

10:00 P.M.

Sandy got to Shageluk at 9:39 tonight. She had a much better run today. Our friend, Joy Hamilton, is a teacher there. They have a web site where the kids post pictures of all of the mushers. Click here to go to the Innoko River School web site. I'll post more information when I get it. I'm hoping that she'll call me sometime soon, but I also understand that this is something she has to do alone.

11:10 A.M.

Sandy left Iditarod at nine this morning, so she's only nine hours behind Rachel and Paul. Hopefully she'll have a faster run to Shageluk, but it'll be hard. She's going to be running her first leg during the hottest part of the day. Although I'm not going to worry like I did on the last leg, I expect her in Shageluk sometime around 3 A.M. on Tuesday.

March 13, 2005

11:55 P.M.

SHE JUST ARRIVED AT IDITAROD!!! I was so worried. Amy just called. She spoke to Sandy. Sandy's doing well, the dogs are doing well. It's just real slow going. Rachel and Paul must've just left the checkpoint before Sandy got there, so she's the only one there. I'm sure they'll want to shove her out in the morning sometime and send her on her way to Shageluk. She's one determined person! This emotional rollercoaster that I'm on is wild. I think that's it's easier to be on the trail than to be at home imagining all sorts of things that could happen out there. I'm so glad that she made it through that stretch of trail. She's a tough one!

11:10 P.M.

IWell.... Sandy's been on the trail between Ophir and Iditarod and still hasn't shown up at Iditarod yet. I'm getting pretty worried. They sent snow machines out to look for her at about 9:30 tonight. Amy is staying at the communications center, so she's going to call me as soon as they find out something.

March 12, 2005

11:20 P.M.

It's been a long day for Sandy. For some reason she took five hours to go from Takotna to Ophir and it's only about twenty-five miles. She must've rested them for some reason. Then she stayed in Ophir for only three and a half hours before heading off to Iditarod. The Iditarod run will take her AT LEAST twenty-four hours. I hope she can make it faster, but it's been taking many people that long. She probably went four hours out of Ophir and camped again. I'm not sure how many breaks she takes going to Iditarod, but I'm sure she's doing what's right for the dogs. She's doing a fantastic job bringing up the rear. Running in last place is a hard lonely place to be. She probably hasn't run into anyone out there on the trail.

She dropped Chevy at McGrath. Scott called me tonight and said that he had Chevy and that he was eating well. The vets were concerned at first because he was "anorexic". He must not have been eating well, but he gobbled down the food that Scott gave him.

I'm going to try to get some sleep, but I lie there and think of Sandy and how she's doing.

7:35 A.M.

Sandy was in and out of Takotna in six minutes! She's now only a half hour behind Tom Knollmayer, but I think he'll be a little faster than Sandy. I came through Takotna at about the same time as she did when I ran the race. When leaving town, the trail climbs up a hill, giving the musher a beautiful view of the valley below. Looks like Sandy got there right about sunrise. I hope that she enjoyed it.

4:25 A.M.

It looks like Sandy took a little longer than expected to leave McGrath, but now she's back traveling again. I was hoping that that she'd pick up an hour on Rachel and Paul, but she got out of McGrath an hour late. So now she's two hours behind them. My feeling is that she needs to catch those two to stay in the race. It's going to be tough to travel over half the race with nobody behind you. I'm sure she can do it though, but it won't be much fun.

She may get to Takotna before Tom Knolmayer has a chance to leave. He shouldn't be leaving until about 5:45 or so. Gary McKellar is still in McGrath. According to Sandy, he's probably going to scratch.

She should make the run straight through to Ophir without stopping much in Takotna. We discussed this a bit on the phone last night. She really doesn't need to pick up much there, so hopefully she'll jjust leave the bags sitting and sign in and out. If she does that, the dogs won't have time to sit down and start resting again since it's only twenty miles from McGrath to Takotna anyway.

Although she's falling behind the pack, she's still on the same schedule that I was on when I finished in fourteen days. As long as she keeps at this speed, she should be able to finish before the banquet on Sunday, March 20.

Well, this next 140 miles is going to a tough one for her all the way to Iditarod. The next day should be an interesting one.

March 11, 2005

3:00 A.M.

Just got off the phone with Sandy. She's decided to take her twenty-four hour break at McGrath instead of Takotna. She took nine hours to get to McGrath because she had to pull over because of the heat. By taking her layover in McGrath, she'll be out of there at about 1 A.M. Saturday morning. That will set her up for a good five hour run to Ophir.

She hasn't used Chevy,one of our best leaders, in lead yet. She's been depending on Bella, Gertie and Goldie. Sandy said that she needed more "brains" up there in front of the team. Chevy's still interested in the girls, so as they come out of heat, Sandy'll start using him in lead more.

She was in good spirits and has been drinking and eating well. Said she hasn't had much sleep. I about laughed because the breaks have been so long that I thought for sure she had time to nap. But I think she's been taking lots of time working on the dogs.

She was also was telling me that the trail is just one big trough in some places. If the sled gets out of the groove, it goes over. There we a couple of times when she couldn't get the sled back upright. That's when Gary McKellar came up behind her and helped her pull the sled out of the deep snow.

She said she really didn't have trouble in the Happy River Steps, the Dalzell Gorge, or the buffalo tunnels. But... the rest of the trail that's usually easy was difficult because of the ruts. Oh... she also mentioned that she was in a snow storm on the top of Rainy Pass as she descended into the Gorge.

She lost the team leaving Finger Lake and I guess she smacked a tree pretty hard. She's amazed that she's still alive! She and Debbie Moderow were laughing about being the old women of the race this year.

I told her to call me more often so she could get the big picture of what's going on. She didn't know that Swenson and Sonny were out of the race. She's going to try to call Rick Mackey today sometime and discuss camping on the way to Iditarod. I told her that it was taking some of the front runners almost twenty hours on that run from Ophir to Iditarod, so she should expect it to be a slow run.

Anyway... she's doing okay. The dogs are fine, most feet are in good shape, Goldie, Dale and Kali are the only ones not eating well, and she sounds good.

March 10, 2005

8:50 P.M.

Sandy had a great run from Rhon to Nikolai. Although it wasn't posted when I checked at six this morning, she'd already made it to Nikolai. Rick Mackey and I talked the morning. He seems to think that her dogs must be in good shape and getting stronger as the race keeps going on. He's been our mentor over the years. He's a master of dog care and he has told us to start out easy and have the dogs reach their peak later in the race. This must be working for Sandy.

She did take a long break at Nikolai, but she headed for McGrath at 2 P.M. She should be to McGrath within the next hour or two. I don't think she'll stay there long since she'll get a nice long rest at Takotna, just another 18 miles up the trail.

If you haven't had the chance to tell Sandy "Happy Birthday", go to this site and leave her a message. http://www.cabelasiditarod.com/phpBB2/viewforum.php?f=5

6:00 A.M.

Well, it looks like it's taking her longer than 18 hours to get to Nikolai. It took Phil Morgan and Tom Knolmayer around 20 or 21 hours, so it might take Sandy that long too. They were both in the Copper Basin with her and finished just a few hours in front of her.

The leaders are now in Iditarod and are taking their twenty-hour hour rests. Hopefully Sandy will make it to Takotna by Friday so that she can take her twenty-four hour layover there. I know that she'll be real tired by the time she reaches Nikolai. I took my twenty-four at Nikolai because I was so tired. I'm sure that the dogs are in better shape than she is. She takes such good care of them that she goes without sleep to make sure that they're okay.

I'll have a better idea of how she's doing later in the day.

March 9, 2005

10:15 P.M.

Sandy took a nine hour and thirty minute break at Rohn and then she took off at noon and went up the glare ice just beyond Rohn and across the bare trail on the way past Egypt Mountain. That's tough country in there. We were told before this race that there was lots of snow in the Burn, but it looks like there are still some areas of bare trail. The hardest part about the bare trail is that you try to use your brake and skid to slow you down, but they sometimes get stuck on stumps and roots and tear up your sled. Since she left Rhon in the heat of the day, maybe the dogs were less energetic. I can only hope so. By leaving at noon, she should've been to the Buffalo Camp by about six or seven. It's about thirty five miles and six miles and hour she definitely make it before sunset. If she takes a complete six hour rest, then runs another six hours, she should be in Nikolai by six in the mornng. It's really hard to tell how long it'll take though because many of the middlle of the pack mushers have taken from fourteen to twenty hours. I should know more when I wake up in the morning. Hey... tomorrow is Sandy's birthday!!! She turns fifty-eight! Can you believe it? She's the oldest female in the race this year by quite a few years. She's one tough person.

5:45 A.M.

I awoke this morning to find out that she was finally in Rohn. I'm happy that she's there, but she must've had one heck of a time coming down the Dalzell Gorge. She took almost twice as long to go from Rainy Pass to Rhon as she did three years ago. Reports were that the Gorge had lots of open water and was real slushy. Of course, since Sandy went down it in the middle of the night, the slush had probably turned to ice.

She dropped two dogs yesterday. I saw that she had left two in Finger Lake and I was trying to figure out which ones were left when I got a call from Amy Golden. She was working with the dropped dogs that were brought back to Anchorage, so she had Sandy's two dogs, Steele and Monty, with her. According to the vet report, Steele had a sore shoulder and was "exhausted". Monty had two sore wrists and also a sore shoulder. It's too bad because they were two of Sandy's hard pulling males. But, it looks like she made it over the mountains without them. Anyway, Scott picked them up yesterday afternoon and now they're resting at his house. He said that they drank lots of water and are resting comfortably.

I'm hoping that she gets out of Rohn around noon and heads on down the trail. The run to Nikolai should take her about sixteen hours. She ran it in fourteen in 2002 and it took me twenty hours in 2000. I'm hoping that she can pick up a little time here. This is also a tough part. We were told that there was lots of snow in this area, but by looking at the pictures on the Cabela's site, I can see that there are areas with no snow at all. It will be extremely hard to control the dogs through that area.

I'd like to thank everyone for their continued support through phone calls and e-mails. I will pass on all of your messages as soon as Sandy gives me a call. I'm hoping that she'll call when she gets to her twenty-four hour layover in Takotna. That should be on Friday.

March 8, 2005

6:00 A.M.

She must be having a good ol' time out there on the trail. In twenty-four hours she's traveled about forty miles while the front runners have gone about 120. Because of the incomplete records on the race log, the closest that I can figure is that she took about six hours rest at Skwentna before heading out in the heat of the day to Finger Lake. She got to Finger Lake around four yesterday afternoon, so I thought she'd probably take a six hour break and head on to Rainy Pass during the cool of the evening. Looks like she stayed there for more than twelve hours. I'm glad to see that she left in a group of four. The next section to Rainy Pass can be tricky in a couple of areas and it's good to have someone around. Jeff Holt left just a couple of minutes ahead of her. He's a rookie from Fairbanks. I spoken with him a few times in the last few months and I think he's a pretty good musher. He's just out there to finish this year with no great plans of competing. Two other fellows left right behind her, so she'll have lots of company out there.

Since it's about two hours since she's left the checkpoint, she's probably dropped down the notorious "Happy River Steps" by now. This is a series of four steep ramps that lead down to the Happy River. I had trouble in the first one the year that I raced. There's a caution sign at the top of the first step. By the time I had read the sign, it was too late. The dogs made a quick left turn down a steep hill and my sled tipped on its side. Because so many mushers are riding their brakes through this section, the trail becomes a four foot deep rut. If you don't keep your sled in the rut, it'll flip on it's side and you go sliding off into the trees. That's exactly what happened to me. I was hung up for a good fifteen minutes. Sandy had no problems with it when she raced in 2002, so I imagine she's done fine through there this morning.

It looks like she dropped two dogs. I won't even start to guess which ones. Okay.. sure I will. Curly is the youngest of the bunch. I'm wondering if he just couldn't take the pace. I'm hoping that it's not Big Jack, but the heat might be a factor for him. I'll probablay know by tonight who was dropped.

Being the "arm chair musher" I hope that she doesn't stay at Rainy Pass as long as she stayed at Finger Lake. She needs to get over the Pass before it gets too warm today. It's supposed to be in the high thirties there today. That makes it pretty warm for the dogs. It should cool down as soon as she gets over the Alaska Range and down into Rohn.

Okay... time to head to school.

March 7, 2005

6:45 A.M.

Got up at five this morning to find out that the Iditarod web site is not working correctly. The last update was at 3:16 and Sandy still wasn't in to Skwentna. Of course, I started to worry, then I looked at the names around her that weren't in and realized that they hadn't updated in awhile. Amy Golden called me just after six to tell me that Sandy got to Skwentna at 4:26 this morning. Good!!! We'll see what kind of rest she gets there before she travels on down the trail.

I need to get to school, so this is it for now.

12:45 A.M. Got back from Anchorage about an hour ago. What a great weekend! Everything went pretty well during the days before the race, the Ceremonial Start, and the Restart. We had a nice drive down on Wednesday. We finally got out of town around noon and took our time getting to Wasilla. It was a clear day and the Mountain was out. (To Alaskans that means that Mount McKinley was visible and not hidden in clouds.) We got to Scott and Laurie Kirby's in Wasilla at around eight and took a couple of hours to feed the dogs and get everything set up. This is the third time that they've hosted us and they're getting quite good and taking care of us. They open their home to us and put up with our twenty howling dogs. Of course, so do the neighbors. It's funny though, because all of the barking in the neighborhood really came from one pet dog at a neighbor's house. Our dogs were pretty quiet.

On Thursday Sandy had to hustle in to the Drivers Meeting, so Scott, Paul, and I loaded up the dogs to go out to the Aurora race track to let the dogs go for a sixteen mile run. We were joined by Amy Golden and her dad, Toby Mullens. Amy and Toby had just arrived from Alabama to help in the Iditarod communications room. They had some spare time, so we invited them to help us out. We drove to Big Lake, about twenty minutes north of Wasilla and found the Aurora track. The dogs all ran well and the run helped us to decide on the final sixteen.

The temperature was about 33 degrees, so we got to see what certain dogs would do in the heat. Paul and I decided that we would suggest to Sandy that Mars, Danish, Sol, and Pancho be in the race on Sunday. We still thought that they'd work out in the Ceremonial Start, but didn't think that Sandy should risk taking them in the real race. Sandy was fine with our evaluation, but decided not to take either Pancho or Mars in Saturday's race.

Thursday night we went to the banquet. It was lots of fun and we got to see old friends and meet new folks. We had seven tickets for our table, so three people we didn't know sat with us. It was nice to meet new people and share our love for the dogs with them. I'm not good with names, but the guy sitting next to me was Joe. He's from New York City and just wanted to experience the "Greatest Race On Earth." He enjoyed hearing my stories about the trail interesting information about mushers in the race. Sandy was number 14 to draw her number and she drew number 23. We decided that was a good one to choose because she wasn't too far back, but she didn't have to go out first.

Friday was a restful day. Paul, Amy, and Toby took care of the dogs that day while Sandy and Scott started packing Sandy's sled. I spent most of the day in bed because I was sick. I think that I my stomach was upset mainly because I was worrying so much about the last minute details of the race. They really didn't need my help for anything anyway. That evening we spent a relaxing time at a local Italian restaurant. (It's getting late and I have to be at school at 8:15 A.M. I'll write more later tomorrow.)

March 2, 2005

We're loading up to head to Anchorage! Eric Jayne, one of our vets, came by last night and checked the dogs. Everybody is very healthy and ready to go! Sandy and Paul are outside getting everything packed in the trucks, so I'll make this short. I won't be posting anything back here until late Sunday night or early Monday morning, by then she should be out of Skwentna and heading for Finger Lake. Time to get outside!

February 24, 2005

Sandy's out on a thirty miler tonight. It's about tne degrees above zero and she's cruising along under a full "Mackey Moon" tonight. Lance Mackey, Rick's brother, just won the Yukon Quest this afternoon. Last night, as I was heading home from town and listening to the Quest report on the radio, I heard that Lance was first in to Angel Creek, the last main check point before the finish. As I listened to the report, a full moon rose over the hills and filled the evening sky. It reminded me of the night that Rick won the Quest back in 1997. We were standing at the finish line on the Chena River as he came around the bend and in to sight. The full moon was hanging over Birch Hill as a few thousand people had gathered to see Rick finish. I knew last night that the moon was a sign. Sure enough, the entire Mackey clan is celebrating tonight as other mushers race for the Quest finish, and as my musher puts the finishing touches on her training season. We'll be in Anchorage a week from tonight!

Oh yeah... Thank you all for your support! We have received gifts from friends, relatives, and people we've never met. We're grateful that you're helping us out. Today was Sandy's last day of work until after the race and the staff in her lab threw her a surprise party. Everyone was quite generous and we were both touched by the notes of encouragement. Again... thank you all so much.

February 22, 2005

The race is only ten days away and we're getting excited! We got the food drops done on time but it was really tough. Seems that life goes on around us and doesn't seem to notice that we have an important race to prepare for. That's how Sandy and I felt on February 9 when we got a call that her father had suffered a massive heart attack. Within hours she was on a plane and headed for Los Angeles. It was up to me to put the food drops together and have them completed by Valentines Day. Fortunately, Sandy had all of her personal gear lined out on the living room floor and in plastic bags so I didn't have to worry about packing those things for her. Paul, our handler, worked all day Thursday and Friday to help prepare the meat and fish. We had to take the dogs in to the vet on Saturday so that they could all have blood work and their EKG's done. After that, I rushed home and started organizing more stuff for the food drop.

On Sunday morning, a group of us started the final packing. At about 9 A.M. Paul Costello, a musher friend of our's, came over and packed all 1,500 booties into packages of about 100 each. Dave Hamilton and Mary Vonhame, two teacher friends of mine, came over and packed all of Sandy's food while Paul continued to pack dog food. Many people had contributed food for Sandy, so Dave and Mary vacuumed sealed everything and then divided it up into separate bags for all of Sandy's checkpoints.

Paul finished with the booties by 1:30. Dave and Mary finished with the food by about 2:30. They all needed to get going, so Paul Schmidt, our helper, and I set up the drop bags in a two long rows and started filling them up. We finished up around 7 P.M. We weren't completely finished, but done enough to take a break until the following morning. The next day we started at 9. I thought that we would have the bags packed and in the trucks in a couple of hours, but since I was being very picky about each bag and making a list of everything that was in each bag, it took longer than expected. Finally, at about 2:30, we rolled up to the warehouse to drop off our bags. I was worried that we didn't have enough food for the dogs, but to my surprise, we had over 2,700 pounds of food and supplies!! There were only two other mushers in the Fairbanks area that had more food. I think the average was around 2,000 pounds, but I wanted to make sure that we had enough food to keep those dogs and Sandy fat and happy on the trail.

I was in touch with Sandy daily while she was in Los Angeles. One day her father would be doing well, and then he would fade a bit. She knew when she left there on Monday, February 14th, that he would probably die within a couple of days. She got home Tuesday morning at 2 A.M. and her brother called at 6 A.M. to tell her that her father had passed away.

We were very glad that she got to spend time with him in his final days and that he knew she was there with him. Her dad was a wonderful man and he was one of the reasons that we moved to Alaska. He was a World War II veteran who flew a B-24 bomber in the Aleutian Islands in 1942 and 1943. His stories about Alaska got us excited about life in the North. We think of him often, and I know she will have miles and miles and hours and hours on the back of her sled to think of him and all of the wonderful times she had with her father.

Since Sandy got back so late, she didn't run dogs during the day on Tuesday, but we both took out teams that evening. During the first two miles of the run, I pulled back on the handle bar of the sled and bent down to avoid getting slapped in the face by a tree limb. Suddenly I felt a pop in my right shoulder and then severe pain from my shoulder to my finger tips! Something was terribly wrong with my shoulder, but I couldn't stop to figure it out. I kept going for another two hours and over twenty miles. When we got home I helped put the dogs back at their houses and then I went in to take care of my shoulder. I was in lots of pain that night so I went to the doctor the next day. There wasn't a lot the doctor could do but he advised me to take it easy and not do much. Since he was also a dog musher, he understood that I probably wouldn't follow his suggestions. I have been trying to not do too much, but I'll be able to rest it more once the race has begun. Again life just throws these little challenges at you while you're in the middle of something very important.

I was going to run dogs on Wednesday with Sandy, but that was the day I went to the doctor after school. So, Sandy and Paul ran them about 22 miles on Thursday. They were all doing well, although they'd had a few days off. Sandy ran Dale in lead and was pleased to see how well she had progressed as a leader. Both teams looked very good.

On Friday, Sandy and Paul loaded up twenty-four dogs and gear and headed to Rick and Patti Mackey's house down by Nenana. They have both been extremely kind to us over the years. Of course, we have bought a bunch of dogs from them, but we have truly become good friends. Rick is our "master of the trail." He's won the Iditarod and the Yukon Quest and he's always finished real well in both races. He's done twenty-four races of a thousand miles or more! That's enough miles to circle the earth once! That doesn't count all of the training miles that he has with his dogs. He's really good about the way that he gives advice. He doesn't come right out and tell you how you should do something, but he coaches you so that you'll make the right decision. Hmmm... sound like a good teacher to me. Although Patti doesn't run the dogs, she plays an important part in helping Rick train his dogs. If she isn't preparing a hearty breakfast for us before we head out on a run, she's packing a healthy lunch, working with their son, Roland, or she's out helping feed the dogs. She has just as much good advice as Rick when it comes to preparing for a race and taking care of the dogs.

Rick, Sandy and Paul all hooked up teams on Friday at about noon and went on a forty mile run. Rick sometimes like to break the runs up, so they took an hour rest at a tent about twenty miles from their house. After I got out of school, I drove the fifty miles from Fairbanks down to their home just outside of Nenana. I arrived just a bit before they got in at around 7 P.M. Sandy and Paul thought that both teams had done well, although Jack and Viking seemed tired. We fed them, gave them straw, and left them alone to sleep until Saturday morning.

Sandy and I went on a seventy mile run on Saturday. We broke it into two parts by doing a fifty mile run, followed by a three hour break and then another twenty mile run back to Mackey's house. It had snowed a couple of inches during the night, so the trail was kind of punchy and a little slow going. My team took the lead as we headed north from Nenana and out towards the village of Old Minto. From old Minto we wound our way through the trees and brush to a trail that lead us out over some wide marshy fields toward New Minto. We went about seven miles west of Old Minto before looping around and heading back toward the tent. This run didn't go so well. For some reason, Sandy's leaders didn't want to keep going. For awhile they were stopping every four or five minutes. She was trying new young leaders in front, so I'm pretty sure that they were the problem. When she finally put old reliable Susie and Goldie in lead, she had no problem. On the way back to the tent, though, I had to load Gertie into the sled because she started to limp. Gertie had been hurt earlier in the season, so she didn't have as many miles on her as some the other dogs. As a matter of fact, this was Gertie's first fifty mile run of the season. I let her rest for about eight miles back to the tent. When we left three hours later, she was fine and had a great run back.

On Sunday, Sandy picked her best ten and took off for the tent again. The plan was for me to wait for about an hour and then follow her with my team. The dogs in my team were what we call the "B Team." For some reason or another they weren't quite as fast or as dependable as the "A Team" dogs that Sandy had. As soon as I pullled the hook and started down the trail I had problems. Deacon put on the brakes and didn't want to keep going. I coaxed him on and he finally broke into a trot. About three miles out, Rick came racing around me with his fast team. One of his dogs barked and that spooked Ace, so he dropped to the ground and stopped the entire team! Ace has been a very hard pulliing dog over the years, but his one bad trait is that he spooks easily and will stop the whole team with him. It took me a few minutes to get the team all straightened out again. When I said, "Hike!" the leaders just stood there and didn't move. I had never had this happen to me before with a team. I had heard about it, but I had never personally had to deal with it. I ran to the front of the team and tried to get Jack and Bella to move, but they just stood there. They didn't lie down, they just wouldn't move forward. I tried to get them going a couple of more times, but the only dogs that would lunge forward were Sol and Schwepps, who were both in wheel. My tendency was to go up and smack the leaders across the butt to get them going, but instead I decided to try Schwepps in lead the Jack. I moved Sol up to swing, moved Ace back to wheel, and then I said, "Hike!" Unbelievably they took off! That old Schwepps decided that it was time for him to become a lead dog. We still had a long way to go, and Trouble put on the brakes and stalled the team a couple of more times, but we made it out to the tent in three hours. Of course, Sandy made it to the tent in two hours and Rick got there in an hour and forty-five minutes. But... we made it. Rick and Sandy were both surprised to see Schwepps in lead. Instead of looking at the negative side of the run... that they stopped on me a few times, I looked at the bright side since we now had a new reliable leader. I also knew that we'd have to cut Ace, Deacon, and Trouble from the final sixteen. It's hard to do that, because all have been hard working dogs, but Sandy just can't afford to take a dog that will put on the brakes and stop the whole team.

Sandy left the tent just minutes after I got there, but Rick stayed there at the tent with me while I rested my team for a couple of hours. The run back to the house was entirely different than the run out. We cruised back under a full moon, making it to the house in under two hours. I ran most of the way back without my headlamp on. It was such a gorgeous night and the dogs were well rested and ready to run. Just about four miles from Rick's house, I saw a meteor streak across half the sky as I stood silently on the runners. I made a wish. Bet you can guess what I wished for.

February 5, 2005

This sure seems to be the busiest time of the year! We spent all of the day preparing the drop bags, organizing Sandy's food and clothing, and cutting meat. Let me explain the cutting meat part of this a bit better. Actually, our neighbor Olaf has a big meat saw and cut all of the meat for us. I hauled all of the meat to his house a couple of days ago and he cut it up when he could. He cut up over 700 pounds of race diet beef, 400 pounds of lamb, 240 pounds of turkey skins, and over 300 pounds of fish! It's incredible, but the sixteen dogs on the trail will eat much of that.

It's been pretty cold here for the past week, but we've been training anyway. Or should I say Paul has been running the dogs for us. Paul moved into the neighborhood last August and took an interest in running dogs. We're sure glad that we met him, because we wouldn't have been able to keep up our training schedule without him. Sandy is still nursing a frostbitten finger, so she hasn't been running in the cold. I had a busy schedule at work last week and I didn't get out with the dogs either. So Paul came over every day to run at least one team. Since it was anywhere from -25° to -30°, he always put booties on the dogs and put dog coats on most of them. We also kept the runs in the two hour range so that the dogs didn't get frostbitten. The runs all went well, although Paul did see quite a few moose on the trail.

We're still training twenty-six dogs, but we're getting close to choosing the top eighteen. Although Sandy can only run sixteen in the race, it's a good idea to have the top eighteen, or even twenty, picked out. One never knows what can happen close to race day that might knock a dog or two off of the team.

Although we have a bunch of veterans, we're real excited about some of the younger dogs that might be going. The strongest three year old seems to be Dale. She has come into her own in the last two months. She's always pulling as hard as she can, even loping up the hills! We've been running her in lead lately and she loves being in front of the team. She did a great job for Sandy in the Copper Basin, even though she didn't lead much.

January 23, 2005

We've been back for a week and are back in to training. We started all of the dogs out easy with runs of only ten miles or so. Now we're back up to twenty with most of the dogs. Sparks was a bit sore last week after his run on the 14th with Rick Mackey, so he's had more time off and is only going out for five and six mile runs. Jack and Zephyr are both taking it pretty easy right now too, but they should be back on track by next weekend.

Rick loaned us another leader, Chevy, for the race. He's only four and hasn't run in any races, but we think he's capable of helping Sandy and the team. He ran in front with Dale for half of the run last night and did quite well. He reminds me of a dog that Brenda Mackey used during the 1998 Quest named Camaro. Sure enough, Rick told me that they were both related and both out of Gareth Wright's line of dogs.

Food drop time is coming up fast. We have to have all the supplies bagged up and ready to ship out on Valentine's Day. We bought the rest of the meat and fish yesterday, so now we have to get it cut up and bagged. That's just one of the tasks that we have on the list. Here are a few of things that we're working on at this time:

1. Packing all of the meat, fish, fat, and dry food
2. Cooking, sealing, and packing Sandy's food
3. Soldering and taping 15 sets of lithium battery packs for her headlamp
4. Spray painting Sandy's name on all of the checkpoint bags
5. Organizing all of the dog coats, booties, and other dog supplies into the appropriate check point bags

You get the picture. The list goes on and on and on!

January 14, 2005

Sandy just got back from a successful run of the Copper Basin. It was a tough run, especially since over half of the field scratched, but she finished with all twelve dogs and got the Red Lantern! She feels that it has helped her prepare for the Iditarod because it was quite cold (-40° F) and there was a major open water crossing.

The dogs are all home now are taking a few days off before we start running again. On Saturday we plan to get everyone out for an hour and a half run, just to get them all warmed up again. A couple of Sandy's leaders, Gertie and Steel, didn't make the trip to the Copper Basin, so they need to get some more miles before they can run with the twelve finishers. Rick Mackey is coming up tomorrow to run one of the teams to let us know how they're doing.