Iditarod 2009 – Paul Gebhardt Update # 8 as of 6am Sunday, March 16 ©Evy Gebhardt
Bib #15  Paul and team are currently running in 12th  position

Out of the checkpoint of KALTAG as of 2:15pm YESTERDAY afternoon

Carried by frigid temperatures, the wind is boiling over the eves of the nearly buried buildings here in NOME as I check in early this morning.  With the forecast including a windchill advisory for the area, and temperatures well below zero, it is about 80 degrees different than it was just a few days ago for Paul and the other mushers making their way towards the finish line. I saw a brief clip off the trail on the Iditarod site where it showed Paul preparing to leave a checkpoint. The wind looked wicked, and coupled with the -22F temperature reading his GPS reflects this morning, it is safe to say that the race has taken on a new dynamic yet again for Paul.

Upon leaving the Yukon River at the KALTAG checkpoint, Paul did drop another dog from the team.  My guess is that he would have dropped CAT. She is a small female, the littlest dog on the team, but a veteran finisher with Paul in the past. This pairs his team down to a group of 9, for the roughly 300 miles of racing left up the Bering Sea Coastline. To say that this was not what we expected is an understatement.

Paul is in good company as he makes his way overland to the UNALAKLEET checkpoint. He had stopped to rest the dogs along the trail and was passed by a couple of teams that elected to push on without resting. Currently, he is in close proximity to DeeDee Jonrowe.  Behind him on the trail, are five time champion Rick Swenson, as well as four time champion, Martin Buser. So Paul’s adaptation to running the race differently than he would have intended when he left the starting line over a week ago, is probably no different than any of these top competitors. The other good company that Paul is traveling with would be the canine athletes that comprise the team of nine: HOUSTON, LIEUTENANT, BEAR, TESSA, HAG, BLACK DOG, FAWN, COPPER, and DUKE.

I am not overly concerned about Paul being “down on dogs” as he makes his way up the trail, because I know the level of care that he gives the team.  I’ve seen mushers travel half the race with little teams and still do well.  As far as the cold weather, it will be a factor if a team is not eating well. This has never been an issue for our dogs, who have good appetites and are able to stay hydrated because of this. The impact of hydration in the cold is an often-underestimated factor when it comes to frigid cold. For both the musher and the team alike, staying hydrated is critical. The dogs get the fluid they need from the warm broth that Paul makes by mixing water with their commercial food and meat. Paul long ago adopted a policy of drinking one Capri Sun type juice bag or water every 10 miles of racing. He has special pockets sewn into the lining of his jacket to keep the juices thawed when he is traveling by using his own body heat.

The turn in weather conditions is something I am a little concerned about though. In the final hours before the race started, Paul was reviewing the projected 10-day forecasts for each area of the trail, all the way to Nome. Nothing close to what we were experiencing was on the horizon at that point. But now the mushers have to contend with not only their fellow mushers on the trail, but also the unforgiving cold. In this kind of weather, you will begin to see mushers with frozen skin and extremities. I have not seen photos yet, but I heard that DeeDee Jonrowe already froze her lips. In years past, I have seen mushers with frozen ears, fingers and toes. One year, Paul had a gap along his neck where his neck gator did not ride up high enough to catch the bottom of his headgear, and he ended up with a line of frozen skin all along his neck where the insidious cold had found its way in.  He looked like he had a bruise from being hung when the frozen tissue turned black around his neck.

When I flew into NOME late yesterday afternoon, the sun was just setting, and long shadows echoed off the snow covered tundra beneath our plane. I could see large cornices of snow bent in wild arcs off the tops of the mountains, and as we neared the ground, the blowing snow was visible as it hurried along the crusted surface of deep snowpack on the ground. There was a group of musk ox gathered in a cluster near some willow brush, and a red fox went darting across the snow covered landscape. In the background, miles and miles of unbroken snowpack covered the tundra and the sun was like a tangerine colored orb. It made me realize that this unspoken beauty is probably one of the things that bring the mushers back to this race year after year.  The drive to be competitive is of course a factor as well, and the tremendous impact that this race has on so many lives as well.

I find it both humbling and staggering as well, to realize the magnitude of how many people are following Paul and the other mushers. Paul receives letters from young and old alike. When a parent writes that their child has never taken an interest in anything like they had when they started following Paul in the Iditarod, you know you have captured an imagination.  When adults that write about how they find Paul’s approach to the race inspiring and how they eagerly look for updates, you can appreciate that Paul is giving a level of motivation that he is unaware of. When teachers write to say thank you, and the kids draw pictures and even bake dog biscuits for our team, you know that the Iditarod is so much more than a race from point A to point B.

Thank you for sharing this incredible journey with us. Stay tuned,  even from the remote shores of frozen ocean way up here in NOME, I will continue to keep you posted.

Until later, enjoy the ride! Evy