Achilles chillin’ on straw, -20FToday found us down at the Musher’s Hall track, preparing to run the Open Class sprint race. Why a sprint race for a mid-distance team, you may ask? Well, simply put, I really wanted to get my dogs out around other teams and introduce them to whatever crud might be floating about. Our dogs have recently gotten over a bug, but it’s better to introduce them to as many different situations as possible. This may seem odd to some, but if you think about it, it’s a smart practice. Because, it is better for the dogs to get whatever bug that might be circulating the race circuit early. That way, they get it, they get over it, and it doesn’t affect them during whatever main race or races they’ll be running.
We took 10 dogs out, and I had the 1st place position, as I was the only one to pre-register before race day. However, we did get 2 other teams signed up. Manny rode the sled up to the line, as is our tradition…but left me huffing behind as I jogged to catch up. If you’ve ever tried to run when you’re all geared up for -15F or colder, you’ll know what it’s like. Aw well, I was nice and warm at the start then. ;o) We took off nicely and the dogs were loping along well. I kept my drag down for the first 1/3rd of the race to keep them from going too fast and getting injured. With the fresh snow we were getting, the drag mat really piled the snow up…so I didn’t even need to touch it. We were making good time, but then Ricky Taylor finally caught us at Creamer’s field. I stopped my team to allow his to pass, as he had young dogs, then we gave chase. The dogs did great, until we started on the turn back to the hall. On the turn, Riley and Feather took the first Gee (not much choice with a snow fence blocking the only other way), but then as we were heading into the second Gee that would take us on the inbound trail, Riley suddenly leaped left following the wrong trail! With the fresh snow and icy trail underneath, it took me a few seconds to get them stopped. By then, we were heading towards the 30 mile loop, instead of the race trail. I got the hook to hold and turned the team, but then Riley decided to play around and tangled the team. What a mess! Just when I was about to get them all untangled, Riley jumped back again and lit into Herod, my wheel dog. Now, this was crazy, as my dogs don’t usually fight…so I broke them up, only to find another ‘dog ball’. Well, halfway through that untangle, the next team (Carol) caught us. Her team also took the wrong turn, but then gee’d past my team, taking Carol’s sled through the brush and over some stumps. Crazy! She got by and I finished untangling my guys, and we took off. The team was really flying for about 2-3 more miles, then it was like someone flipped a switch and they just bogged down. I don’t know what was going on…but we did the rest of the run in a trot. All in all, it was a loopey run, but hey, we took 3rd place (out of 3 teams..Tee hee hee!) and won a nice, new harness from Howling Dog. Perfect, as we needed to replace the Manmat harness that Skuuga ate.
Now, the temp has dropped to -30F and will be cold again for the next few days. We’ll be focusing on 30-50 mile runs, setting the dogs up for the 300. Just 3 weeks away, Oh my! Lots to do, so we’ll be busy going through gear, getting drops ready so we’ll know what we need to get or replace, and laying out our game plan for the race. The hubby and I have been talking run/rest schedules and what strategy I’ll be using with the dogs. I’ll be testing these out on the dogs over the next few weekends to see what schedule/strategy will fit them for this particular race. Check back often, as I’ll endeavor to keep everyone updated on our progress.
-Tammi and the pooches
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