Kristy Berington Bib #38 in Position #38 in TAKOTNA as of 3:53pm yesterday
Next checkpoint: OPHIR
Strategies, luck and misfortune have changed the face of Iditarod 2010 over the past 24 hours, as mushers make their way ever closer to the finish line in Nome. We have seen wild fluctuations in standings, as teams have either stopped to take their 24 hour layovers, or have travelled further up the trail and are waiting to declare this mandated rest. 

When Paul pulled out of the TAKOTNA checkpoint just after 4:30 this morning, he had a compliment of 14 dogs in front of the sled, and his 26 hours and 19 minutes of required rest behind him.  During this extended break, a number of critical things happened. Foremost, Paul called me. Whew!  I always wait for these calls because I know that once the teams leave this checkpoint, they will travel into some of the most absolute wilderness that Alaska has to offer as they make their way towards the Yukon River checkpoint of RUBY.

Paul had just gotten up from a nap and was preparing to head back outside to feed the team again, a cycle that would repeat its self over and over during his break – with the dogs ultimately consuming several hundred pounds of food as they took advantage of the fresh straw to stretch out and relax. The daytime sun was a welcome component, as overnight temperatures had plummeted to -40 on the trail. Paul was happy to be able to dry out some of his gear, as the wet heavy snow that had been falling through the run in the Alaska Range had thoroughly soaked all of his gear – making for a cold run into this checkpoint some 400 miles into the race.

He said he had a somewhat frustrating run over on the second half of the bumpy Farewell Burn coming into the NIKOLAI checkpoint. He had to carry two of the biggest dogs on the team for 70 miles, RECON & DUKE. Both were dropped back at that checkpoint, and when Paul pulled the snowhook for the run to McGRATH and on into TAKOTNA he said he was absolutely thrilled with what he was seeing. He said the team seemed to be operating on all cylinders and were as he refers to it “really jelling”. Then suddenly, two of the young members of the team exhibited gaits that told Paul something wasn’t right. So in the middle of rocking down the trail, he had to stop the team’s momentum and load both PHYSCHO & QUEEN. While not the horses that either of the other two dogs had been, these are still both large dogs, and he had to carry them 10 miles into the checkpoint.

Despite this, Paul felt the rest of the team was doing well. And from what I can see on the GPS tracker now, his speed on the trail illustrates this. He had made the switch to his smaller, lighter sled during his layover, and felt that he would gain an edge with this strategic move, but really felt that he had some leaps to go to catch the powerhouse leaders in this year’s race.  He was looking forward to seeing Kristy and her team, and by the stats it appears that she pulled in yesterday afternoon with a string of 13 dogs to begin her layover there.

(In this photo, Paul is being interviewed while caring for his team at a checkpoint. Note the pink tube that is just to the left of the red rectangle shaped item – that is one of several types of foot ointment that Paul and Kristy use to protect the dogs’ feet. The red thing is a neoprene wrap that Paul will put around the dogs’ wrists when he stops to keep them warm and to mitigate soreness – like you see horses with.)

It will still be a day or two before the front runners in the race are clearly defined due to the staggered locations of the layovers. Granted, there are some teams that seem to be really shining – Paul noted that Jeff King had a beautiful team. But I would never ever predict a dog race at this early stage. Martin Buser was down to a team of just 10 dogs one year when he left the very checkpoint that Paul just departed – and he went on to win the race. Lance Mackey had considered scratching at this same location the year he also won. And who could forget how the apple cart was turned upside down in last year’s race and many new faces broke into the top due to the storm that pinned teams down on the coast?

This said, I will get a little prophetic here, and say that one thing I have learned through the years that Paul has raced, is that people love winners, but often times it is the ones who miss that limelight that have a much more powerful story to tell. As a society, I think we hinge an awful lot on the victory – from our children to the powerhouses in the business sector. I am not discrediting success, nor am I suggesting that Paul is in any way rolling over and giving up – quite the contrary. I do know that the feedback that I have gotten from MANY teachers across the globe who’s classes are following Paul, and now Kristy, on the trail – tell me that the greatest lessons learned for their students come from the adversity that they see the mushers overcoming. I’ve seen many a humble man become quite proud with victory under the belt, and others learn qualities like patience, acceptance and integrity under the toughest of races that did not pan out as they planned.

I will never forget a college instructor I had that talked about how much value we as a society place on “winning”. She suggested to us that we put ourselves into the position of standing on the edge of a stage. A child on that stage has just had a piano recital and they BLEW IT – totally messed it up. If you are the very first adult that this child interacts with, what message are you going to convey? Perhaps “Oh, you’ll do better next time”? Ask yourself what message are you sending that child? That their personal challenge to put themselves out in front of all these people to try something had no value because they didn’t get it right?  In that vein of thought, I will step off my soap box and say that regardless of where Paul crosses the finish line – be it the elusive victory that he hungers for, or another highly respectable finish, the journey he and Kristy are on is one that touches more lives than you can ever imagine. More people have climbed Mount Everest than have finished the Iditarod, and already there are 6 teams in this year’s race that have called it quits.

So I say – “You Go Girl” to Kristy and “I’m behind you 100%” to Paul! 

I will close here with a shot that is representative of the view Paul will have as the sun lifts over the horizon on his journey closer to the finish line. There are still 694 miles to go – and a LOT can change. For right now – I am happy to see he is cruising at a decent pace and still in the hunt.
Until later…. Life is a journey, enjoy the ride!  Evy