Embraced by reportedly cooler temperatures, Paul departed the Bering Sea coastal village of UNALAKLEET at 3 minutes to 3am this morning. For any of you that have already logged onto checkout the current Iditarod posted standings, you can easily see that this will prove to be a wild 400 miles of racing. The pack of highly competitive mushers, all eager to pass the team in front of them, is within close proximity.

Paul for example, after resting his team on the run over to UNALAKLEET (I know he did this judging not only from his run time coming into the checkpoint, but also due to how long he was in KALTAG before.) gave his team of 12 dogs an additional break of just under 4hours here.  The team currently listed in 3^rd did not rest his team, but left only about a half of an hour ahead of Paul.  The next team behind Paul, Norweigen Kjetil Backen, was literally one minute behind Paul.   Then we have the whole slew of mushers within an hour or two of this. 

The trail reports suggest it will be a decent trail as they wind their way up along the Bering Sea coastline.  Leaving UNALAKLEET, the trail will take the teams up through a region known as the Blueberry Hills.  Having “dog power” here (more dogs capable of pulling well in the uphill climbs) will be a factor.  Last year, Paul had fewer dogs than Lance Mackey at this point, and also had a broken sled to contend with.  It was here that the two teams separated.  Could that be the case this year?

While our trails on the Kenai Peninsula offer exceptional “hill training”, and our dogs are well-versed in the ability to lean into their harnesses to get the most out of their runs up the hills, we need to recognize that they have already run some 800 miles coming into this point. I saw some footage of Paul using his ski pole to help the team, and I guarantee you that he will be on foot when he can to help the team on their way to Nome.  He once estimated that he easily ran 300 miles of the trail on foot during the Iditarod helping the team, plus the time he pushes with a ski pole in a steady rhythm is his contribution as a member of the team. (Paul and team in the 2007 race. The large wooden tripods are used to mark the trail. This year, much more snow fell in the region.Photo is copyright protected and provided by Jeff Schultz/ Alaska Stock Images)

I also heard another report about the equipment that the trail crew was using on this year’s race to help lay a good foundation for the teams to follow.  I am not aware as to whether or not they have been using them throughout the race, but on this section the mushers are currently traveling over, the “trail breakers” are reportedly pulling special groomers. I will have to ask them when they reach NOME (which is usually a few hours ahead of the front teams) if these are the ones Paul told them about.  Our friend, Kevin Fulton, had conceptually designed the groomer, and he and Paul worked out the kinks together. I know Paul spent some time discussing this with the trail breaker crew last year while we were in NOME, and the description I heard of the groomers they crew is using this year tells me this is exactly the model Paul uses. Kevin actually flies in today, so I will have to make sure he is part of the conversation to see how much his idea has grown to benefit the dog teams!  In a nut shell, the tow-behind groomer has a blade that is able to be lowered or raised.  The blades that Paul has on his is a piece of a Zambonie blade – the machine used to shave the ice in hockey arenas.  The blade creates a smooth surface and the sides of the groomer pull what is shaved back into any holes in the trail, cleanly depositing what the blade pulls up. On the trails that Paul grooms near our home on the Kenai Peninsula, the resulting trails are so sound, that they become passageways for the moose, and are used by all the neighboring teams as well as skiers, hikers and even mountain bikes.   Granted, a hard fast trail like the one these groomers are capable of creating, set up and are well-suited for teams such as the one currently in second place.  But it also gives all the teams better running conditions, and in the end, that is what matters – this race is about the dogs after all.

Speaking of dogs…. Paul had dropped one more member of the team back at KALTAG, based on my phone conversation with Paul, I would guess that this was one of the youngsters on the team, named Crazy.  (you can read my pre-race profile of the team by clicking here)  Appetite is going to be key for the dogs on this final leg towards the finish line.  The weather is cooler than it has been for much of the race, and it is breezy along the coast as well. Even in the late afternoon sun yesterday, it was only 10 degrees here in NOME.  Keeping “gas in the tank” as Paul refers to it, will only be achieved by a good balance of rest and nutrition for the dogs. 

At this stage in the race, you will often see not only a separation of the teams due to the innate ability of the dogs themselves, but there is also a somewhat intangible separation that stems from the musher’s individual ability to function without sleep.   Paul has often talked about the fact that some mushers, specifically younger or inexperienced mushers, having a tough time processing concise thought patterns when they are ravaged by sleep deprivation this late in the game.  He comments about how inefficient some of them become in performing their chores, or in their ability to format a strategy.  I would have to say that operating at a high caliber without sleep is probably one of Paul’s strongest attributes.  This is not to say that he is not as tired as any of his fellow competitors at this point, but he does amaze me at his ability to quickly process stats and stay on the ball at this late stage in the race. While he doesn’t quite go through the extremes of running 9 days on 10 hours of sleep like he is doing now, partly due to his full time work as a contractor and training dogs on the side, he is able to function well with not a lot of sleep.  Anybody who has visited our kennel will attest to the fact that he is a hard guy to keep up with.

I am kind of hoping he may be part of a hard team to keep up with on the Iditarod Trail now!  Hans Gatt is the Canadian musher just ahead of Paul on the trail.  Hans is a past Yukon Quest winner, but has yet to fare well in the Iditarod. Hans is an un “uber” athlete himself, running marathons in the off season.   Immediately behind Paul is the youngest of this front pack of mushers, Kjetil Backen.  Hailing from Norway, he is driving a team that is very interesting from an economic standpoint.  “Team Norway” is not unlike the compilation of an Olympic team.  They have taken the best of the best, not just from one kennel in Norway, but from a number of kennels, and given them to one musher to run in the race. Kjetil is not an inexperienced musher, and neither is his team.  I would equate the team that Kjetil is running to one comprised of the top dogs from our kennel, plus those of Mackey, Buser, etc… You get the picture.  They only element that I don’t fully understand of this dynamic, is how the team melds together.  One of the strengths in Paul’s team is that he has learned through the miles of training which dogs perform better in which spot and paired with which dog.  I do not know when the melding of all of the Team Norway dogs occurs, and how much time they are able to bond.  Perhaps that is not an issue when you have a whole string of ultra-caliber dogs.  It may be a difference in perspective. I may be way off base – who knows?!

I surely do not know how this final push into NOME will pan out.  The checkpoints ahead on the trail include SHAKTOOLIK, which is Paul’s next destination.  This tiny village is situated on a rocky slice of land that juts out into the sea.  From there, depending upon what the conditions will allow, the teams are likely to go directly across the ice of Norton Sound to reach KOYUK.  In past years, when the warm sunshine has been casting long shadows over the trail, the media crews covering the race have reported seeing seals out sunning themselves on the sea ice. (whew, that was a tongue twister!).  But if it is windy, it can be a truly hostile environment to pass through.  There is no camping along the trail on the sea ice that would be fun. Reaching KOYUK, the trail goes overland again, although it continues to skirt the shoreline of the coast.  There are more hills to navigate as the teams head towards ELIM and then onto WHITE MOUNTAIN – including a significant climb over “Little McKinley”. 

I am sure we will all be on the edge of our seats waiting to stand up and cheer as our “team” continues to perform well in this year’s race.  Paul is in some pretty elite company right now.  No less than 3 past champions are breathing down his neck from behind. It is still anybody’s race in my opinion.  Paul, with his “heart of a lion” and unparalleled determination, is going to do the best he can.

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