Wolf Moon Dogsledding

Location: Finland, MN
Time - 8:00pm Central Standard Time
Temperature: 16 degrees F (-9 C)
Conditions: Clear with few high clouds
Forecast: Cloudy tonight and tomorrow with snow showers. Highs in the 20s, lows in the single digits to negative teens

The yard a few days ago. Of course that is Calypso in the background. The dog on the left is Glimmer, from another kennel. She stayed at MCK for a couple of days before riding up Alaska with Blake, Phil and Forrest (Blake’s tag-sled driver for the Iditarod ceremonial start and a longtime Iditarod fan). I have to say, I’ve never heard of a dog called “Glimmer” and I REALLY like that name. She is going to a new home in Alaska.

Well, I am VERY excited to report that I have another race coming up! This weekend I will be running the Red River Sled Dog Derby, an approximately 164-mile race that begins in Halstad, MN and runs on the Red River along the border of Minnesota and North Dakota. This is a 12-dog race and should be an absolute blast! I am really looking forward to it. Read more about the race here - http://www.redriversleddogderby.com/

In other news…

Blake, Phil, Forrest and a large number of dogs are currently on their way to Alaska. They left last Saturday and I took a few photos.

Rocket (left) and Peso (right) check out Phil, who is…I don’t know. Probably grinning about the fact that he won’t have to worry about me throwing snowballs at him for the next six weeks.

Tuuli peeks out of his box in the trailer where the dogs are riding.

Blake prepares to leave. Jen tries to delay him.

The crew heads off for Alaska, leaving MCK in the hands of Jen, myself, Kim and friends.

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Location: Finland, MN
Time - 12:08pm Central Standard Time
Temperature: 16 degrees F (-9 C)
Conditions: Clear, sunny
Forecast: Partly cloudy today, cloudy tomorrow. Lows in the negative single digits, highs in the 20s

Above photo by Don Deckert

Well, as some of you may know, I wore the mask pictured above at the start of the Beargrease 150. I got more comments on the thing from other racers and (especially) spectators, who were all very enthusiastic about it. I think I said a couple of times “Well, I was going to a masquerade but I ended up running a sled dog race.”

So I thought I’d give a little background. The mask doesn’t have any particularly *huge* significance. It was something my Aunt brought me years back when I was ten or twelve. I don’t remember where she got it but I had a blast running around with it on. Over the years, my friends and I had waaaay to much fun with the mask and there are pictures and videos of us wearing it. Then I put it under my mattress (in GA) and there it sat for the past few years.

Fast forward to last December when certain members of the MCK crew (myself included, of course) decided to look up as many versions of “The Twelve Days Of Christmas” as we could find. There was one version in particular - the “Phantom Of The Opera” version - that we got a kick out of (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7RgDMce840). We ended up ending anything that remotely resembled a list with “AND A MASK!!!!”

As you may remember, I went to Georgia-home for Christmas. While I was there, I remembered the Mask and went searching for it. I found it right where I had left it under the matress. So, when I flew back to Minnesota-home, I carefully packed it in my suitcase. At New Year I whipped it on and said “AND A MASK!” and then “Who thinks I should wear this at the Beargrease start?”

And the rest is history.

Photo by Kris Saari

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Location: Finland, MN
Time - 7:45am Central Standard Time
Temperature: 16 degrees F (-9C)
Conditions: Heavy snow
Forecast: Snow today and tomorrow. Several inches expected. Highs in the 20s, lows in the negative single digits.

Above are pictures from the race start from http://f-go.smugmug.com/Sports/Dog-Sledding/John-Beargrease-Dog-Sled/11120447_nch65#779094221_QRbNm Go to the link to see better quality images.

Photos from left to right:

• Chime (with Inga in the background)
• Me unloading one of the flowers from the dog truck. They were a little reluctant to leave their boxes.
• Hjordis

I want to thank Blake and Jen once again for allowing me to do this race with their puppies. You have no idea how much I appreciate that opportunity.

Blake finished 6th in the marathon. I was not at the finish but I hear his dogs were leaping and barking at the finish line and looked great! Unfortunately, Phil had to scratch but I am confident he made the right decision in the interest of his puppies. If you want to decipher the race results yourself, go to http://www.beargrease.com/mushers-results.php

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Location: Finland, MN
Time - 8:15pm Central Standard Time
Temperature: 12 degrees F (-11 C)
Conditions: Cloudy
Forecast: Cloudy tonight and tomorrow. Highs in the 20s, lows around zero.

To aim at the best and remain essentially
ourselves is one and the same thing
- Fortune cookie I received the weekend before Beargrease

Above picture is of my team last Monday during the 2010 Beargrease 150. It was taken on the infamous third (and final) leg of the race between Finland and Tofte. “We’re on a bridge, huskies!”

I am happy to report that we had an absolute BLAST running the race and that, once again, all eight of the dogs on my team finished the race in fine form. I love this team. These dogs are so much fun to run with and it was great to see them learning as we went along the trail. Inga and Fiona were great, solid leaders, as they were in 2009 and Hjordis impresses me to no end. I also learned that Violet (Susan’s sister and Inga’s daughter, in case you don’t remember) is a natural in lead. Little Violet ran up in lead with Fiona for a good portion of the last leg of the race.

Since I was running a “puppy team” I was not competing as such but I wanted to improve my time over last year and to beat Dave Lundberg. Dave was one of my handlers in the Beargrease 150 last year but this time he was a fellow competitor. I am happy to report that my time improved but must also admit that Dave beat me - by 10 minutes (and I feel the need to point out that he was about half an hour ahead of me leaving the Finland checkpoint, so we were gaining. Sorry Dave, couldn’t resist putting that in there).

We had a gorgeous full moon to run by and temperatures were not as terribly cold as last year. I think I liked the race a lot more this year (and I loved it last year). However the hills between Finland and Tofte have not gotten any smaller or less steep!

I will write more on the Beargrease in the next few days but I want to end this particular entry by thanking my awesome handler team this year. You guys rock! Thank you for helping make this race a great experience for both me and the dogs.

From left to right: Erin, Kris, me and Don (and thanks Sarah for taking the picture!). This was taken in Tofte just after I finished and we had gotten the dogs settled. Yes, we are standing against my sled!

THANK YOU!

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