Newsletter
Thank you to General Physics and our other sponsors for giving us the opportunity to better prepare ourselves for the future.
Our Pit Crew at the 2010 Iditarod from CO, MA, CT, WA, AK, AZ.
Thank you!!!
Growing Pains Iditarod 2010
You find out who your friends are when you are in a time of need. This typically means a thinning of friends. For us it has proven quite the opposite. Support, kind words, honesty and encouragement has come to us at all levels and we want to thank each and every one of you from the bottom of our hearts.
Learning does not always come easy.
They say we learn more from our failures than our successes. I plan to do exactly that. Although this years Iditarod did not go as planned I am positive I learned far more about dog care and the importance of proper training miles than if it had gone perfectly. Ultimately this is why we do these things. They are not easy. These events are filled with a variety of challenges and obstacles to overcome. It is the relationship with the dogs that has lured us in and the challenges associated with running dogs in long distance events that keeps us constantly motivated. In both last year's Iditarod and this year's I encountered many things that I had never seen before in 10,000 + miles of training and in 6 other races in the lower 48. The Iditarod is a long-term commitment. We will take this year's experience and learn from it and grow.
Iditarod 2010
I wanted to share a few tales from the trail but more importantly what brought us home early and explain how we plan to grow from this experience.
We went into this year’s race with great confidence. We had an aggressive schedule however I had no plans to do anything that we had not done in the prior eight months of training. I was sure that the dogs were ready.
The run to Skwentna was flawless. We took a one-hour break on the way and all the dogs ate like wolves. We stopped in Skwentna for six hours. Again they ate with great enthusiasm and drank a heavy broth before we continued. We reached Finger Lake and stopped briefly. The plan was to spend the heat of the day at Finn Bear Lake. Finn Bear Lake has a cabin owned by 2 individuals who help make the Iditarod so great. They had hot water for the dogs, moose stew and meatballs for the musher’s and a warm cabin to catch up on some sleep. I was able to get two hours of needed sleep and then we prepared to leave. The dogs were crazy with enthusiasm. I could not help but feel optimistic. After a quick stop in Rainy Pass we headed for Rohn.