We are chipping away at the hours leading up to the start of the 2009 Iditarod now, with little remaining to do that could prepare Paul and our team any better than they already are to embark on the monumental journey ahead of them.

The food drops have been packaged and shipped, the extra sleds have been taken to air cargo facilities to make their way to remote checkpoints along the trail and soon the dogs will be loaded up into the dog truck for the long drive up to Anchorage.  The many miles of training that started under the autumn sun back in September, have chiseled them into fine athletes that Paul defines as “ready to race”. On Saturday, Paul will make the call as to who his final team of 16 dogs will be that will leave the starting line.  If you haven’t done so already, you can visit our website to see profiles of the individual dogs that are all in the running to make the final 16.

Paul will spend today in pre-race meetings with the other mushers as well as the trail veterinarians and race officials. Tonight the pre-race musher’s banquet will be held at which time we will finally learn Paul’s starting position. Although we would love for him to pull a “low” number, we have also seen him leave the starting line dead last and pass every team in front of him to lead the race.  We do know that he will be the fourth musher to draw tonight, from a field of 73.

Like Paul’s team, who is muscled up and eager to be on their way, the other mushers that Paul will share the trail with over the next week and a half are equally as eager to make it to Nome. There are pundits across the board favoring one musher over another as their “pick” to win. I will tell you that I am seeing in Paul an almost deliberate calmness. We were talking the other morning and he said that he felt he personally had matured mentally as a musher and his focus and approach to winning this thing was at a new level. In the past, much of his team would hinge on the success of one dog’s leadership.  He feels that he has worked to develop many different dogs within the ranks of the team that each have many different strengths. He has rotated more dogs in the lead position throughout this season than any other year.  Granted, the team has its all stars, such as Lieutenant, that really stand out and make a big difference.  But what Paul is looking at now are the new dogs integrated into the team.  He is seeing their potential strengths, rather than questioning what weaknesses they may bring to the team as newbies. Paul personally is exceptionally fit this year, mentally and physically.

We are really hoping that the freakish bad luck that has plagued his race of years past has finally left him and this will be “the year”. The weather forecast at this time points towards a warm race, with temperatures in the 20’s. This can be a factor if it gets too warm during the daytime hours for the dogs.  The sun has a powerful impact during the peak hours of roughly noon -4pm against the brilliant white snow. Especially when you have a dark colored dog, their fur will just absorb that afternoon sun and for this reason, “the heat of the day” can be a factor in the musher’s schedule. Another thing that will undoubtedly play a role in the outcome of this year’s race is the amount of heavy snowfall that interior Alaska has received. Reports of snow 8-feet deep in areas will mean that it will be hard for trail breakers to put in a hard, fast trail for the teams to navigate. Some sections of the Iditarod trail are exceptionally remote, so there is little to no other travel on the trail outside of when the Iditarod race passes through. Because of this, there is no underlying packed trail from the snowmachines passing back and forth. This lack of foundation could spell trouble if temperatures warms up, and what trail is put in by the trail breakers deteriorates under the heat and passage of team after team. For this reason, getting ahead of many teams will be advantageous in some aspects, but a gamble on the other hand.

I have no doubt that whatever Mother Nature and the elements throw at them, Paul and the team will have a journey worth documenting. And I plan to keep you posted throughout the days ahead. My plan is to get another update up late Sunday night when I return from the restart, or early Monday before I head out the door back to a week of work.  I have the ever-wonderful Kristy here helping me with the dogs at home, and then we both head out to Nome for the finish.

But now we have dogs to load and need to hit the road for Anchorage. Freezing rain has been falling throughout the night, and it will make our drive through the mountain pass a long and dangerous one. Like Paul, I am eager to see the dogs finally hit the trail – we are all READY TO RACE!

For full Iditarod coverage http://www.iditarod.com/

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