Not far from our Kasilof-based kennel, there is a small lake that sits near the side of the roadway. The other day as I was hurrying home from work to help Paul harness the team up for the evening run, I drove by this little lake. The last vestiges of autumn color stood out against the backdrop of the dark green spruce trees that lined the lake, and the late afternoon sun bathed the scene in gold.  The surface of the lake was like a mirror, save for a simple “v” that broke across the surface were a single duck skimmed along the surface.  It was a beautiful scene, and an interesting parallel to the mushing season in many ways. 

Here was this busy roadway, just steps away from something that was incredibly serene.  It is not unlike the cacophony of the dog lot when the harnesses come out, that suddenly becomes quiet when Paul leaves the yard with a team.  In his wake, the rest of the dogs left back at the kennel jump on top of their houses to see their teammates go, and it is almost like they hold their breath in stunned anticipation – waiting to see if he will return to include them in the team.  Invariably, one of them will take up a single chorus in the form a long howl, as if to lament their woeful state of being left behind.  The entire time the rest of the team is gone, the dog lot will be very quiet until the dogs sense a team in the area.  It is always my cue that I had better have the water and dog bowls ready to go when they light up again.

As such, with the waning days of autumn giving way to the onset of early winter snowfall, we are well into fall training in preparations for the 2009 Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race.  The race its self does not get underway until the first Saturday in March, but experience tells us that those months will slip away quickly, and we have much to do in the window of time that remains. Namely, it is the process of getting the dogs in shape mentally and physically for the 1,100 mile journey.

To achieve this, the early months of training are done using a 4-wheel ATV that the dogs pull.  The weather conditions, although extremely wet early in the season, have been relatively favorable to the dogs. Cool autumn weather, and the lack of freezing temperatures have made for conducive, albeit muddy, trail conditions.  It has only been in the past week that we seen the thermometer hovering at the freezing mark throughout the day, and a degree of short-lived snowfall. We are now entering a period that can be touch and go for the training runs.  While the freezing temperatures are nice for the dogs, it does change the dynamic of the trail conditions. Both frozen dirt and shards of crystallized ice are a nightmare for the dogs’ feet, which will require either putting booties on every dog or seeking out the more-forgiving sandy shoreline of the Cook Inlet beach near our home. Neither option is entirely favorable, as booties are a huge expense, and these types of conditions will wear out the material in a single run. The salt-kissed sands of the beach are great to have in such close proximity to the kennel, but since it is a pretty boring run for the dogs, Paul tries to avoid it unless all other trail options are exhausted.

As of this week, we now have a handler for the season, which is a tremendous blessing to Paul and I.  Kristy and her twin sister, Anna, had spent a season handling for our friend, Dean Osmar in the past. They returned this season, with Kristy working with our dogs, and Anna across the street at Dean’s kennel.  Kristy had done some running with our team last year, and it is obvious that our dogs have already taken to her upbeat, high energy demeanor.  Her level of experience includes some mid distance racing, so she has quite literally been able to hit the ground running as we bring her up to speed with the flow of our program.  Prior to her arrival, the burden of all of the kennel chores and training had fallen to Paul and I.  On top of our full time jobs, the early morning chores and late, late nights of Paul harnessing a monster string of dogs for his runs had us “dog tired”.  Although we do have a small kennel by competitive standards, the extra hands are great for the level of attention we prefer that the dogs receive.

In my early season correspondence, I indicated that Paul has thrown his name in the hat for the 2009 Iditarod.  Although he had entertained the idea of also adding the 1000-mile Yukon Quest to his repertoire this season, he has elected to put a heavy focus on winning the Iditarod instead.  With Kristy to aid in the training, he is looking at several mid distance races to utilize as tune-ups prior to the Iditarod in March. We are scaling back the significant level of volunteerism we have put into the Tustumena 200, which will allow Paul more focus on our own team.

We are realizing the benefits of our breeding program now, and I am excited by the feedback Paul is giving me about the composition of the team overall.  Red Dog is completely retired now.  He enjoys his excursions around the kennel, although an arthritic wrist is limiting him to a degree.  He is otherwise in excellent physical shape, and enjoyed the company of many “visiting lady dogs” over the summer months – as other mushers wanted to add his incredible genetics to their bloodlines. Many people do not realize that Lance Mackey’s leaders Zorro and Larry lead back to Red Dog’s same genetic line.  One of the elements that is intriguing about Red Dog is his preponderance to throw leaders.  There is our leader Houston, Governor was his son, and now we have Lieutenant.  The latter, Lieutenant, was one of the yearlings on Paul’s Top Ten finishing team last year. I knew he was a promising young athlete, but Paul surprised me with a recent comment he made about this lanky, white male. “I think Lieutenant is the best leader I have ever had.  He has the commitment to me that Red Dog has, the drive to race that Governor had, and he is really fast.” Paul said. He indicated that Red Dog never had the kind of capacity for speed that Lieutenant has, and that Governor, while very dedicated to Paul, was so focused on the race nothing else mattered.  (Recall that in the year Paul placed 3^rd in the Iditarod, it was Governor who was leading the team down the trail away from Paul when the gangline broke a couple years ago.) To have found this balance, with a leader that is coming into his prime is a great asset to our program.  To have a solid group of dogs overall, that are already jelling as a team is a real bonus. We have both noted how smooth fall training has been this season even with the integration of young dogs.

We were saddened to hear that a peninsula neighbor, Jon Little, has not had a good season.  Many of you are probably already aware of a recent accident his team had when they were struck by a car when they crossed a busy highway.  Four dogs were killed, and knowing how a similar tragedy impacted our team when Paul’s team was stomped by a moose, the rest of the dogs are no doubt still in shock. Ironically, the very day that had happened, Paul and I were driving near the intersection where Jon has been crossing this major thoroughfare for years. We had discussed how Paul dislikes being near any roadway, and how this particular road was very dangerous. It was almost like a numbers game, in that he had done it without event so many times in the past, that this time the statistics just were not in his favor.  What has got to be even harder for Jon to bear, is that it was actually his handler, running a second team behind him, that was hit. Jon saw the whole thing happen and couldn’t stop it.  Our prayers have really been with Jon and Brea, as well as their handler.

I am including some pictures below of Paul and the team on one of the fall training runs near our kennel. You can bet we spend some time wiping muddy faces after the runs!

Until later - Life is a journey, enjoy the ride! Evy