Just 90 miles from the finish line...

Wow. Just that one word holds so much in describing the Quest 300 this year.

I finally made it home very late last night (ok, this morning) and who was waiting up for me but my loving, wonderful, handsome husband, Manny. Man, it sure was good to see him after being gone for a week! He helped unload the truck, we got the dogs bedded down and headed inside. Phew, it is good to be home! But, it also feels weird. After spending 3-4 days (I lost count) out on the trail with the dogs, it feels weird to be sitting here at home. I keep feeling like I need to get back on the trail. I took a sick day, as I'm still exhausted (and a bit sore, to say the least!) and figured I need a day to recoup. Seems I may have bruised a rib in a collision with a tree (more later, when I give my race report), so it hurts a bit to breath but the vets (yeah, no human doctors for us mushers!) assured me it would be good with some rest (maybe a good Algyval rub?). Manny just fed and watered the dogs (it was hard for me not to be out there!) and the dogs ate and drank, except Feather. But, she is in full blown heat, which the vets feel really contributed to her not wanting to eat/drink well on the trail.

We made it all the way to McCabe Creek, which (depending on who you talked to) was only approx. 90 miles from the finish. Just 3 runs, and we would have been there. Unfortunately, every one of my dogs sustained either wrist or shoulder injuries from the hard packed (concrete!) trails, cracks in the river ice, downhills which were fast, twisty and steep and just plain missteps along the way. Leaving Carmacks, I was down to 8 dogs, and 4 had slight wrist injuries that I was managing with massages, wristwraps and Algyval. When I went out to prepare to leave from McCabe, most of the dogs just didn't look happy. When the vet started going through the team, that's when we started discovering more injuries. She recommended that I drop 3 dogs (Ahab, Inu and Rocket), which left me with only 5, all of which had some type of injury, though managable. I asked her to be straight with me, because I refused to cripple my dogs or ask them to do more than they could or should. She suggested that I not continue on, and I agreed with her. It was hard for me, as I was so close to finishing and really felt that I would. It never crossed my mind that I wouldn't finish once I got into Carmacks. But, stuff happens and you just have to roll with it.

Looking back and speaking with the vets, I did everything right. I slowed the team way down (took us 7 hours to make the run to McCabe!), kept the dogs slow on downhills, massaged and algyvaled, etc. The only thing that I could have done more of was massage/algyval ALL the dogs at every camp spot, even before any injuries popped up. I started doing that at Carmacks, but should have been doing it the whole time. Our biggest problem is that most of the training the dogs have done weren't on hard, fast trails...but softer, slower trails. Additionally, I practiced overflow, breaking trail, etc. While there was a bit of overflow, there really wasn't a whole lot and no breaking trails at all. Well, you live and learn. The next race, I will massage every dog, at every stop; get the dogs out on hard, fast trails more; take a more varied selection of meats/snacks for the dogs. As for sled handling, my confidence has soared in that area, as while I did have some falls, had one run in with a tree (me, not the sled) and went down to Breaburn Lake on my face; I did ok! I didn't crash/bust the sled up and have become pretty good at sharp 90 degree turns and steep, twisty downhills. :o)

Well, I will write out a race summary later, to lay out how each run went. Overall, the trail was GREAT! However, one must remember that it IS the Quest trail...not meant to be easy. To me, there were some great, fun sections in between some rough, crazy sections. All in all, I did enjoy myself, once I got over my fear of crashing the sled.

A HUGE thank you goes out to all race officials, volunteers and fellow racers, particularly Martin Jahr (he was a great help to me..Thanks for the fire!!), Leonard McGlynn (who decided that I'd had enough sleep at Carmacks) and Simi Morrison for having such a great outlook. Also, Jeremy Keller was truly an inspiration...this guy was trailing all of us, taking it super easy with his team, and he always came in smiling and just full of energy. His dogs also came in looking happy and healthy. He said that this is his Iditarod qualifier, and that he just wanted to ensure that his dogs had a happy, healthy experience. :o) That is really cool! Here I was, whining/complaining about crashing, etc. and Jeremy comes in all smiles and grins. Gave me a new perspective, that's for sure.

More to come later....
-Tammi