News

Well, it seems every time around new year’s a thaw occurs in Alaska. The snow is melting. Yesterday it rained. So tomorrow, I am traveling north with Wade Marrs to go train on the Denali Highway.

I’ve never gone on a training trip with anyone but Travis so I’m excited about traveling with another musher. I’m sure I’ll learn a thing or two.

This will be a good test before Copper Basin. My dogs have been doing well. We have been running consistently though our runs haven’t been too long in length and we have only done a few camping trips. 

Copper Basin isn’t something I’m really going into in “race mode.” I am not going to be out there competing to win. My objective is a strong Iditarod team and this race is playing into that. 

Copper is a 12 dog race that is about 310 miles long. The runs are as follows

• 50 miles
• 73 miles
• 43 miles
• 85 miles
• 59 miles
• FINISH LINE (otherwise known as a warm bed and hot shower for the musher and a warm dog box and long rest for the dogs!)

The race has a mandatory 18 hours of rest that each racer must take. Of course, you are able to take more if needed or wanted.

Right now, I’m still working on trying to figure out my intended race plan. I can take 12 dogs and am hoping to take mainly the younger dogs in my training pool to see how they do and get them some race experience. The final cut will really determine how I run the race but, to be honest, I’m not really expecting anything more than finishing with a happy team. My goal is to finish Iditarod and to use Copper Basin as a tool to help get me there.

I’m hoping that the hill training on the highway will help prepare us for some of the hillier runs in Copper.

 So now it’s time to pack for my training trip. It’s a lot like packing for a race but instead of drop bags you simply haul everything.

Here’s an idea of what I’ll take:

• Ax
• Dog booties
• Sleeping bag
• Human food
• Dog food (kibble & meat)
• Parka, gloves, hats, jackets, extra layers, extra boots & checkpoint shoes
• Headlamp & spare batteries
• GPS
• Travel dishes, ladel
• Dog food cooker, heet, matches, lighter 
• Watch / Alarm Clock
• Drinks & Snacks for the run

I’m looking forward to the trip. I’ve been working with Penny as a lead dog and she has been phenomenal except when going up hills so I am hoping this experience will give me lots of experience to teach her to charge ahead. 

Here are the dogs who will be taking me on this awesome adventure:

1. Penny,  2 years old, female
2. Madori, 5 years old, female
3. Dolly, 2 years old, female
4. Athena, 1.5 years old, female
5. Pippa,1.5 years old, female
6. Lena, 1.5 years old, female
7. Crazy, 2 years old, female
8. Shark, 2 years old, female
9. Hoover, 2 years old, female
10. Bensen, 2 years old, male
11. Coda, 2 years old, male
12. Check, 1.5 years old, male
13. Rowdy, 1.5 years old, male
14. Hammer, 1.5 Years old, male
15. Thunder, 6 years old, male
16. Hank, 2 years old, male

I like numbers so let’s take a look at some of my team’s stats:

I will be taking (6) 1.5-year olds, (8) 2-year olds, 2 veterans. 63% of my team is female and 88% is 2 years old or younger. 50% of my team is out of our kennel super-dog and amazing leader, Boston. 25% of my team is out of 4-time Iditarod Champion Xena. 19% of my team is out of Iditarod & Yukon Quest Champion, Hope.

Don’t worry, I have several older dogs in training who won’t be making this trip. Ray, 10 who finished Iditarod in 11t last year. Zema, who is a phenomenal leader and is 5. Boston, another great leader. I also have Tamere and Star who have finished Iditarod multiple times. I’m also leaving behind Varden, another superb 2-year old.

Kind of cool to look at. At the end of the day however, stats aren’t the same as results. Still, I’ve  been fortunate to work with some pretty talented dogs. Every day I spend with them is fun and exciting.

Here’s looking forward to a great trip!

– Sarah

The last few days have whirled by in activity. We’ve been doing more camping with the dogs. Run 30 rest for 3 hours run 30 again. It’s not far but it’s fun. 

It’s really hard to gauge how training is going. The dogs are doing well but to be honest this is the first time I’ve trained my own group of dogs so consistently. I have a lot of questions and a lot of anxiety’s from time to time about how things are going. I ask what I canand I try to just run my team and not worry about what other people around me are doing. I suppose it’s like racing in that regard – we all have our own agenda and our own plan so we just have to do our best to stick to it and not worry what everybody else has going on. For rookie, that’s easier said than done. I find they often ask myself and I doing enough? Am I training as much as I should be? It’s hard to know. You see a lot of my shirts posting on Facebook about how they are doing these 200 and 300 mile camping trips. Sometimes it seems as though these mushrooms are doing them on a weekly or even twice a week basis. That’s great for them, but I don’t think I have quite that level of stamina just yet. I just want things to be fun and have a good time. So far, we are achieving that goal for the most part. Like any athlete or teen, we have periods of ups and downs and highs and lows but overall I would say that we are all consistently having fun. The dogs jump with excitement and I almost always have a smile glued to my face when I’m out on the trail.

Unfortunately, I warm weather front has moved in. Today it got up into the 40s. One of my favorite movies is an older Jack Lemmon film called grumpy old man.  It’s about these two neighbors, older gentleman, who have an intense rivalry and like to go fishing. At one point, in the background the song is playing ironically the temperature outside is about 20 or 30 below. But the lyrics to the song go we’re having a heatwave, a tropical heatwave… I find this warm weather has made that short piece a song play endlessly through my head.

Last night I hoped up a 14 dog team and we traveled about 50 miles down trails we’ve never been on. I had my GPS so I knew I couldn’t get too lost because I could always find my way back. So I decided that my goal would be to uncover as many new trails as possible. Up here in Willow, the trails are numerous and though I have looked at maps Thee squiggly lines on a sheet of paper are much different than the snowy intersections I often find myself at. Like so many things in life, the best way to learn is through experience.

So on our voyage last night we uncovered a ton of new terrain. Parts of it were hauntingly beautiful. Birch forests at night are one of my favorites. The white trees stick up like a bony extensions of the snow. There isn’t a lot of undergrowth so when you shine your headlamp you can see for 100 feet or so perhaps further, if you had a brighter or better light. Often I look side to side trying to find moose. On more than one occasion I got nervous as I saw fresh tracks. There have already been several dog team and moose encounters so far this year and it seems that due to the forest fire this summer and the snow that they are particularly agitated. At one point during the run, I rounded a corner after the team and saw a pair of green eyes staring back at me. My heart leapt into my throat. Then, I realized that one of my dogs had simply turned its head back towards me. What a chicken, I told myself. 

The dogs tackled the new trails marvelously. At times we ran on soft snow and at others, we traveled on hard fast trails. I must’ve taken a wrong turn at some point because once I ended up coming out onto the road. The dogs however were well-behaved and there was a large parking lot. We made a large sweeping loop. It was effortless. Then, we headed back down where we had come from.

Originally, I had packed so that we would camp somewhere on the trail. But it was raining, and I didn’t think it was necessary. I know I don’t like sleeping out in the rain and I’m sure the dogs we’re grateful to return to their  warm dog houses. We filled their houses with fresh straw a few days prior and that sounded far cozier than sleeping under a light drizzle.

This morning, the dog lot was a sheet of ice. I was grateful to have ice grippers so that I didn’t slip and slide all over the place. I had been planning on trimming nails today, it’s important that we keep the nail somewhat short,  but ended up deciding not to because several of the dogs ended up wiping out and falling during the excitement of feeding. What a bunch of goofballs. I should note that everybody was fine.

Today I made my weekly trip into town.  Ironically, I had to make the trip due to my cats. We were out of cat food and though they really like to eat dog food it isn’t nutritionally complete for them. I ended up getting new food for them and some new squeaky toys for our house dogs. I wanted to get another dog bed but holy cow! I forgot how expensive they were! of course, everything with dogs is expensive.

Tonight we’re going to check the trail and see if it’s suitable to run on. If it’s too slick, the dogs may end up sliding around and getting some sort of injury or sprain. That’s no good. 

Depending on how the snow thawed and refroze it could also be quite granular which could lead to foot injuries – Also not good. We only run our dogs when the conditions are safe to do so. Otherwise you sort of defeats the purpose of training. We may be able to booty the dogs and not have a problem but I doubt it if it is granular. Hard icy snow like that just tears through booties. Healthy feet are necessary for a sled dog for obvious reasons.

I took a break and writing this post and unfortunately the trail is no good. We could run on it if we really wanted to but again what is the point? Training isn’t just about getting miles or experience. It’s about bettering your dog team. Sometimes, the best way to do that is to let the dogs sit or travel to wear conditions are better. We will see. At this point, we either need it to snow more or we needed to warm up enough during the day that conditions get slushy and we can run in the slush but even that isnt ideal.

Here’s hoping to colder weather and to better trails.

– Sarah