There is a certain amount of pride taken in getting a nice team together. There is a different kind of pride when the dogs mature and step up to the plate.  This weekend was fraught with sadness and pride.  On one hand I didn’t have my very trusty leader Katrina, and I felt like I was racing blind, or back training yearlings. Now, she came along for the weekend, I could not refuse that enthusiasm.  That was the sadness.  The pride was watching Clara (pronounced Claaara for those with American accents) go from a not so great run on Saturday to a near perfect run on Sunday.  Instead of asking the dogs to step up the pace on the way home, all I could muster was “GOOD DOGGIES!”  I am sure the photographers and other people near the finish line thought this was funny.

Day one is over.  This race is the big one for Montana Creek Dog Mushers Association, and like always they put on a truly professional event.  The trail was a little soft and chewed up, but working with what they have the trail was in great shape.

It has been two weeks since our last race  and, despite one major setback, we are ready again.

This past week I needed to get to the core of Katrina’s.  Her drive, her leadership and her stamina were all intact.  She just could not do what I was asking her to do, the same thing she has been doing for the last 3 seasons.  For such a strong willed dog to suddenly not be performing was very strange.

This past weekend was full of highs and lows.  One of the highs was the temperature – in Talkeetna where we stayed it hovered around 20 above. Nice and warm for the dogs and the people.  The temperature at the Montana Creek track was much colder, -5 on the first day and -13 on the second day – but just before the 6-dog class Eric pointed out the shimmer on the mountains – the cold was leaving the valley and the mountains had that shimmer that you see on bitumen on a hot summer’s day.  It as suddenly 12 above!  Mother Nature sure knows how to keep us on our toes.

It was close to -30 today in Fairbanks, so my friend Melissa and I headed for the hills.  We ran on trails I was recently introduced to.  What a change to run on new trails!  It was great for the dogs’ heads and nice for the mushers too.  We doubled sledded each others’ team which was probably a good idea for the first run up there.

Being New Year’s Day we encountered more people than generally use that area.  My team had 2 head-on passes and they did really well.  Melissa’s team encountered some snow machines and a family skiing.  It was a fun day and being out of the biting cold down in the valley was very fun!

Check out the pictures below, and the short video I made of the run

The team finished the run and parked alongside the truck

Melissa getting her team ready for her run.