February 22, 2005 EKG Photos

Here are some miscellaneous photos from the pre-race vet checks. Once again, our thanks to June Price for her time and efforts to share the experience with the rest of us. Details/captions on each to be posted as received and as time allows :)

You can read more about the behavior of these Tough Sled Dogs in an earlier entry (in case you missed it).

Just a little over one week until Iditarod 2005, stay tuned!!! 

Ann

Editor

February 22, 2005 Tough Sled Dogs

Throughout the ages stories have been told about the tough, savage sled dogs that endure the harsh northern environment to drag loaded sleds up and down the trails of Alaska. According to the legends, many of them would just as soon rip your throat out as look at you.

And then there is my team…

Despite the fact that I’ve told them time and time again I want them to act like the tough Iditarod sled dogs they are when we are out in public, they consistently ignore me and turn into the biggest snuggle bunnies with the slightest provocation.

Today was the team’s appointment to get blood drawn and their EKG’s. In smooth precision a half dozen vet tech’s run the dogs through a well rehearsed routine – first a tech scans the dog for existing microchips and then 2 techs draw blood from the dog’s jugular vein. The dog is then lifted onto a exam table, laid on their side, six or so leads attached to them and an 8 second EKG done. If it is a rookie, a microchip is inserted and the dog is done. I’m told a 20 dog Iditarod team can be done in just over an hour – not like I would really know – as once we include snuggle and cuddle time mandatory for my group – it is an hour to an hour and a half before I’m out of there.

It started off not too bad today with Crunchie. He is a bit of a Momma’s boy and wasn’t thrilled by all the strangers working on him. Next in was Squeaky and our ‘rough tough’ sled dog image began to fall apart. Draco was the beginning of the end as he arched his back and accepted back scratches like a cat. When I turned around and found one of the vet techs sitting on the floor with Loki stretched out, on his back in her lap, accepting belly rubs I knew all was lost. 

Kara put the final nail in the coffin when she had to be coaxed UP after her EKG. She liked the attention way too much and didn’t want it to end.

"I am not amused"

Sweet, soft, cuddly, adorable, cute were just samples of the words used to describe the team. Far from the rough, tough, solid image we lust after….

Oh all right – I admit it – I’m the one that has turned them into this bunch of ‘sled pets’ (to use a term stolen from California musher, Melissa Beers) and in reality, I’d have it no other way. I adore that they thrive on attention and affection – even if my vet checks do take longer then most.

Additional images can be viewed here.

Karen

February 20, 2005 Time to Panic

People frequently tell me how calm I am at the start of Iditarod – and truth be known, by Race Day I am pretty calm, but that is only because I get my panicking out of the way early - like NOW.

Yesterday it occurred to me that it is only 2 weeks till the start of the Race. My stomach immediately lurched and my blood pressure probably shot through the ceiling. At 3:30am I was lying in bed staring at the ceiling obsessing about dogs, training mileage, training runs, run/rest schedules and the likes. At 4:30 I was staring at the ceiling obsessing about dogs, training mileage, training, run/rest schedules, and the likes. At 4:45 I was answering emails to distract myself from obsessing about dogs, training mileage, training runs, run/rest schedules and the likes. Best to get it out of the way now, I guess. Sleepless nights before the Race are never a good thing.

Really, although the weather seems to have been working against us for much of the time, I have comparable mileage on the dogs to last year, some good solid pushes on them, and they are all pretty happy and healthy. Many people have been asking if I’ve made any cuts yet or have any idea who is going and who is staying – and really, I haven’t and don’t – and that’s just like I want it for now. Mark and I are planning a 30 mile run later today (after the Daytona 500, of course), Tuesday is the dog’s EKG’s and blood test day, Wednesday – Friday we are heading out to Lake Louise for our final longer runs and the following Tuesday is our vet checks at the Big Lake Vet Clinic – so Tuesday night I will have all the information in my hands I need to pick the best 16 dogs out to start the Race with me. Until then I’m keeping an open mind.

So, I have a confession to make, until this morning I didn’t understand the purpose of spray cheese. All my Canadian readers are probably asking “Spray what??”, ‘cause ‘Cheez Whiz’ like stuff just doesn’t come in spray cans in Canada – at least not that I’ve ever seen – but in Alaska, Minnesota and every other US state I’ve visited, grocery stores have a huge selection of cheese in cans just like Reddi Whip comes in. Is slicing cheese really that hard that folks must have their cheese processed and watered down to the point that it will spray out of a can?? I just don’t understand why anyone would want to eat the stuff. However, this morning I fell in love with spray cheese. No, not for it’s flavor – in fact, I’ve never tasted it but for…well…let me back up a little bit….

As part of our dog’s racing diet they eat a vitamin and mineral supplement called Amaize. It comes in granules or cookies and we feed granules for training and cookies during races. I really like what the product does for the dogs, however they were not crazy about the flavor of it – Loki in particular. This past summer, Amaize changed the flavor of their product and all the dogs, Loki included were licking their bowls clean. Unfortunately, I miscalculated the amounts the dogs would need for my time in Alaska and all the product I can find up here is the ‘old’ flavor. After some fiddling I have figured out that if offer the cookies away from meals and other snacks, all the dogs will eat them (however if I’m even carrying a bucket, they will watch the cookies sail through the air and continue to bark at the bucket, holding out for a better snack) – well all but Loki.

First I tried the granules on his kibble, but he just peed on it. Then I tried throwing water on top of the granules, but he just left the last ½ inch of water in his dish and peed on it. So I tried throwing the cookies at him, he let them hit the ground and peed on them. This morning Mark crushed up his cookies and mixed them up with his kibble and soup, I managed to grab the dish away from him just before he peed on it. Then it hit both of us – “Spray cheese!!”. I headed to the house to steal a can of Jamie’s spray cheese (in her defense, she keeps it on hand to disguise pills she needs to give to her dogs). I covered one of the cookies with the bright orange glue like substance and offered it to my problem child. He worked his darndest at licking the cheese off the cookie, but just couldn’t get it all off. In disgust he finally just ate the cookie. I danced around the dog yard and made plans to take a case of spray cheese back to Canada with me – but don’t think I’m going to be eating any of the stuff myself.

All for today!

Karen

February 18, 2005 Catching Up

Lots of odds and ends to report - so I'll get right too it.

I was wide-awake at 4:30 this morning, eager for the day to get underway. The reason for my excitement, you ask?? Well Mark arrives back in Alaska this evening.

Earlier this year some friends did a video taped interview with Mark and I discussing our relationship, how we deal with the responsibilities of the dogs together, etc. (Apparently, some folks think we work really well together - obviously they are not ones that have ever watched us try to paddle a canoe across a lake together. After that we had to go out and buy 2 one-man kayaks to prevent a divorce. Mind you, that was many years ago :) .

One of the questions that really stuck with me was when Mark was asked how he handles my being 'away' for close to 2 weeks on the Iditarod Trail. He laughed and said that at least he can follow me when I'm on the trail and that the tough part was the months we are apart during training. He's right. We spend a lot of time apart throughout the year and although I love my lifestyle, my happiest times are the ones when he is around. I'm grateful for the freedom he so willing gives me to spend time in Minnesota and Alaska (remember he still has 35 - 40 dogs to care for at home when I'm away, as well as his job), but even more grateful that he is willing to follow me to those places.

The one thing he did before heading up was secure a place to watch TV on Sunday morning that gets the FOX network so he could watch the Daytona 500.

Many thanks to Doug and Krista Grillot for the offer of the use of their couch and TV - he might have stayed home otherwise. He's supportive - but there are limits to everything! * grin *

Yesterday was Drop Bag day - always a relief to have that out of the way. Jamie and Harry regained some usable space in their basement and shed when I loaded up the 42 bags and headed for town yesterday morning.

Howling Dog Farm handler, Janet came along to keep me company on the drive to Anchorage. She broke her collarbone in a sledding accident a few weeks back and has a fair amount of time on her hands while she mends. I'm glad laughing doesn't involve collarbones, because we managed to get severely lost in Anchorage about 3 or 4 times yesterday. With much giggling, some banging of my head on the steering wheel, and a little luck we did manage to get the bags dropped off, to Gwennie's for lunch and then back to Willow.

Total weight on the bags this year was 1575 lbs - just about the same as last year's, but substantially down from my first 3 years when I sent out in excess of 2000 lbs each time. Better team, better food (that Eagle Ultra is wonderful!), better race plan, more experience = small food drop.

The dogs have been on a fairly light training schedule the last while due to the heavy going on the trail and my needing to spend some time on drop bag stuff. I have opted for this rather then an extended break that they usually get somewhere around this time of year and it seems to be working pretty well. The next week they will get a final 'push' with some 50-mile runs planned and then their training will be scaled back to allow them to really ready themselves for Iditarod.

I am sad to report that one cut has been made to the team this year - Chester will not be making a 4th trek across Alaska. Although he is fine and full of energy now - his injury from Copper Basin put him out of training long enough that it would be unfair to expect him to get back into racing shape before the beginning of March. His presence will definitely be missed. He natters away at the team when we are getting ready to leave on a run and when we come back into the yard, I hope he is giving the younger dogs some good tips and advice on how to be as tough a sled dog as he has always been.

No one else is volunteering to stay home on Race Day - they are trying to make it as tough as possible for me to make cuts. I think this year, rather then deciding which 4 will stay home, I'll be picking which 16 need to go. Regardless, it will be hard.

Everything else is moving along. We are starting to make plans for the pre race days. We have a bunch of family and friends coming up for the start this year, which will be wonderful. Jamie and Harry have graciously agreed to allow us to do an Open House here on the Friday before the Race, which will allow us to spend some time with everyone. The dogs are looking forward to an afternoon of mega attention, for sure! More details on the Open House will be announced as soon as I sort them out.

Well that is about it for now. If any of you are looking for a little 'pre Iditarod' race fix, make sure to check out the Yukon Quest (www.yukonquest.org), which is already in progress, and cheer on fellow Siberian musher, Blake Freking!! I certainly am!

Happy Trails!

Karen

February 11, 2005 Open House

Just a quick note - Jamie and Harry have very graciously allowed that we can hold an Open House at their place on the Friday (March 4th) before Iditarod. (Thanks guys!)

 

Details to follow.

 

Karen

February 9, 2005 Breaking Trail

Last week I was bemoaning the lack of snow in the area and trying to convince the dogs to do snow dances with me in the yard. Yes, conditions were still fine for running and I was getting good miles on the dogs, but the concrete like icy trails were tough on joints and made for some tricky sled handling. Sharp corners would leave me hanging on for dear life with my teeth rattling and chattering in my head as we skittered over the ice. Sleds clattered and scraped over the rough trail, the noise seeming to put everything a little on 'edge'.

 

My friend, Doug Grillot, who I ran Iditarod with last year, and I went on a trip up the Yentna River last Thursday and we literally had to plan our breaks around where there was enough snow to sink a snow hook. In most
spots there was just ice with a skiff of snow over it.

 

Then the dancing paid off - it snowed.and snowed some more. Some spots in Anchorage got 15" of snow; out here it wasn't quite as much, but still registered in the 8-inch range. That was Monday. Tuesday probably brought another 4 inches or so with smattering of light snow falling again on Wednesday and Thursday.

 

Although Alberta gets more then it's fair share of winter storms, we don't seem to get the large accumulations of snow at one time that Alaska gets.  It leads to the neat phenomenon of 'digging out'. It's like the National Geographic Special where they show the arctic hare sticking his head out of the snow drift the morning after a snow fall - only here it is people and the moment after sticking their heads out of the snow bank they are firing up snow blowers and trucks with plows on them. In a flurry of activity roads are cleared, snow knocked off roofs and pathways dug out until enough snow has been pushed around that life can go back to normal. 

 

Then out roar the dog mushers. The distance mushers seem to all be scrambling to be the first to get their teams out there so they can practice breaking trail. The sprint mushers hustle out on snowmachines hauling large drags to ready the trails for their teams.

 

We were able to get more then our fair share of trail breaking in. Tuesday I did a 25 mile run, breaking trail for about 14 of those miles. My leaders, Moses and Surge did a wonderful job. Although the going was considerably slower then what we have been doing, they keep motivated and moving strongly forward. Good practice!

 

I personally LOVE running dogs after a new snow. Everything seems quieter, stiller and more magical on the trail. Even the quality of the light seems lighter and fluffier! The rattling noises of the sled are replaced by soft
swooshes of the runners dragging through the new snow, the previously scary sharp corners are much easier to navigate and you feel like an old pro on the runners as you slide confidently around them.

 

I am also continuously amazed by my dog's ability to find trails I can't.

 

Thursday I found a two mile section of trail known as Romano's Loop that had not been run since before the week's snowfall. Olena and Odie seemed completely sure of where we were going when we turned onto it, but I wasn't convinced. I stopped them for a quick break and walked up front to get a better look at where I thought the trail might be. As I was heading his way, Odie stepped to the side to pee on a tree and promptly sunk up to his ears. I guess we were on the trail. He quickly scrambled back to the hard packed snow - even he can't lift his leg that high. My faith restored, I headed back to the sled and minded my own business for the rest of that trail. Ollie and Odie never wavered or hesitated, even though in open spots the snow was up to their chests and, in my puny, limited human mind the trail was invisible.

 

By yesterday almost all the trail was broken open, although it was still heavy going in spots, but the running was spectacular. Bright, bright blue skies caused the snow to sparkle and shine. The dogs were jazzed by the new snow and most of the time, just roared through it. On breaks Kara would work diligently on making doggy snow angels, Loki would roll onto his back and just lay there with a soft 'pillow' under him and the sun on his belly, and Ollie would stick her head straight into the snow bank and come up completely white. I'm sure if I had taken longer breaks they would have started building snowdogs. What a blast.

 

However, not everywhere is singing the praises of this latest dump of snow. I heard Skwentna had several new feet of snow and hard winds. It has virtually wiped out any trails they had. Word from Norma Delia, who lives there, is don't even bother trying to come out this way for a run for a few days. I'm taking heed. I will wait until next Tuesday or so before trying to get another long river run on the dogs.

 

All for now!

 

Karen

February 4, 2005 2005 Knik 200

For a while there this running of the Knik looked like it would have a huge field, but in the end only 15 mushers ended up heading out towards Skwentna. I drew bib 10, a number I was very content with. With the help from friends, like Jamie West, Doug Grillot, Russ Bybee and June Price my team consisting of

	Surge	Odie
	Nahanni	Olena
	Kara	Hilda
	Loki	Moses
	Crunchie	Hector
	Draco	Herman

 

all got hooked up and pointed across the icy parking lot towards the starting chute. Race organizers are to be commended for their common sense. Rather then try to muscle strong, excited dog teams over the ice to the starting chute, they simple went to each dog truck in order and started us from there. Everyone, especially the handlers were very grateful.

 

 

Right away we faced a problem as musher Carlos Da Silva, driving Iditarod musher GB Jones team was tangled up on the ramp off Knik Lake. Luckily he was able to drag his mob off to the left side of the trail and my leaders easily negotiated a way around him.

 

 

The next several hours of the run were like a lovely visit with an old friend. I’ve raced and trained lots on this trail, but had been out of contact with it since ’02 because of Iditarod restarts being in Fairbanks and Willow the last couple years. There were a couple improvements, like the bypass around a brief stretch of plowed road that we used to run, and a few sad things, like the missing ‘Nome’ sign 20 miles out – but overall it was pretty much as it as always been.

 

The dogs were moving steadily and strong, despite the fact that temperatures were far above ideal for my furry pals. We jockeyed for positions with a few teams, being passed a bit and passing a bit – overall holding on to that number 10 spot more or less though.

 

Once out on the river things started getting busy. With the lovely weather (too hot for dogs, but great for people) snowmachiners were out all over the place, but everyone was careful and respectful of the dog teams, giving us a wide berth when passing and usually waving a greeting.

 

At about this point I slipped into an ongoing battle I’m having with a few of the dogs – Odie, Hector and Olena to be exact. All three have decided that the dog booties that have fallen off other dogs and are scattered along the trail are edible. Not only is this an annoying habit, it is a dangerous one, as the booties have the potential to ball up in their stomach and impact their systems up. Odie is sneaky about it and I usually don’t see him snarf the things up – I just see them come through the other end a day or so later. Hector will drop them if I sharply say his name but Olena just inhales them faster if she knows I’ve seen her grab them. There were a few miles of stop and go while I tried to convince these guys of the evils of their addictions – eventually they decided I was right – or they were full – one of the two. Then Surge dived for a larger piece of white cloth that was discarded on the trail. He quickly spit whatever it was out and Olena, running right behind him grabbed it and started giving the ‘death shake’. It was much bigger then a bootie and I sure didn’t want her eating it. I threw the hook in and ran up front to start a tug a war with her for her ‘prize’. I ‘won’ – but it was one of the moments that proves just how much I adore these dogs – as ‘the prize’, which was now mine, was a very dirty pair of underwear. Gross, gross, gross!!!

 

The rest of the run into Skwentna was pretty uneventful. Daylight faded away, but we traveled along under a beautiful full moon. We stopped a few times and all snacked, me on juice packs and beef jerky – the dogs on frozen salmon and herring. I pulled out my I-Pod and enjoyed some tunes as the trail went by. Near the end of the run Nahanni started to develop a bit of a ‘hitch’ in her gait. I went up a few times and checked on her. She wagged her tail and bounced around, but she had quit pulling as hard as she usually does.

 

We signed into Skwentna at just after 9 pm – in 7th spot. The checkers had packed down camping spots for each of the teams – which was wonderful because of the huge amounts of snow there!! They said you had to go through 5 feet of heavy snow to find the ground and I sure believed them - every time I stepped off the packed stuff to work my way around the dogs, I’d crash through the surface and end up struggling. Despite that, I had chores done in record time. All the dogs ate great and then settled contentedly into the really nice straw that the race had provided us with.

 

I went to look at Nahanni closer and she let out a horrific ‘yipe’ when I moved her front left leg. I called the vet over. It was obvious that she wasn’t leaving Skwentna with the team, but if the vet could help me pinpoint the problem, I could get some work done on it to make her more comfortable and start it healing. We isolated a knot in a muscle on her shoulder. I gave her a massage and jacketed her up for a rest. She gave me a poke in the face with her nose – Nahanni’s way of showing affection, before curling up to sleep.

 

Inside the checkpoint I was as determined to stick to my checkpoint routine as well as I had outside. I inhaled a big plate of spaghetti with as much enthusiasm as the dogs had shown their meals and then headed upstairs to get a nap before my 2 am wake up call. Although I didn’t get a full 3 hours sleep, I got some, which is better then I normally do in a race of this length. When I checked my official ‘out time’ on the checkers sheet, I was dismayed to find out I had miscalculated and rather then having a leisurely 2 ½ hours before I left to do chores, I had around an hour and a half. No diddly dallying now!! I sped through watering dogs, packing up my garbage, reorganizing my sled and otherwise readying to leave. My last chore was turning Nahanni over to the vet and checkers. They were all commenting how sweet she was and how they might not return her to me in Knik. I smiled sweetly and muttered something about immanent death if they tried to do that.

 

My 11 remaining dogs, now with Olena and Odie in lead woke up very well and left the checkpoint much stronger then I had thought they would.

 

In my rush I had forgot to put new batteries in my I-pod, but the old ones were holding for now. I just had one earphone on when I heard a noise off on the river bank. The dogs all heard it too and sharply snapped their heads to look off to the right. I pulled off the one earphone and was treated to a few minutes of the most magical music the wilderness has – wolf song. There was probably 3 or 4 of them blending their voices into the night. It was a really special moment.

 

We rolled passed Yentna station right around breakfast time and the smells of food cooking up in the roadhouse was almost more then my stomach could bear. I gnawed on a frozen KitKat bar – not as good as sausage, eggs and pancakes (the staple Yentna Roadhouse breakfast menu) but it shut my stomach up for a bit.

 

After we came up off Flathorn Lake the dogs kind of went ‘flat’ for a bit and I shuffled around and played with leaders a bit before finding the proper spark for the team – Kara in single lead. I silently thanked Natalie Norris – she a big believer in single leaders and I had never even tried that until she encouraged me to last year. Without that, I probably would not of thought of trying that configuration out on the trail. Kara bopped along down the trail at a nice clip, especially considering we had just done 150+ mile in the last 24 hours.

 

I had been hoping to make it into the finish line before 3 pm, which is the time I had told Jamie I was aiming to finish the Race by, but at around 2 pm I figured we were still over 15+ miles from Knik Lake. We rounded a corner on a small lake crossing and things weren’t making sense to me though. This looked like I was about to cross Burma Road, which is only 10 miles from the finish line. Imagine how thrilled I was to discover that that was correct – I had miscalculated yet again and was indeed 10 miles from the finish. That picked up my attitude, which in turn picked up the dogs and we did the last miles strongly and came across the finish line the same way.

 

I love the picture below of the team taken by June Price at the finish line, all are on their feet, looking great, with little Kara looking over her shoulder at me. “Where to next, Mom?” She is such a neat little dog.

 

Seeing that it was 2:38 that we signed in (in 6th place, no less) my dog truck wasn’t there yet, but promptly at 2:59 Jamie pulled into the parking lot. The dogs were all watered, unharness and loaded. Nahanni had flown back from Skwentna and was very happy to see the team and I. Her limp was almost completely gone and in fact, it was completely gone by the next morning. I think it was just a bad muscle cramp. 

 

The first race I ever ran in Alaska was the Knik 200 in 1999, so it now gives me a wonderful yardstick to gauge my team’s progress against. That year it took me around 58 hours to do the race (we rested an awful lot!), in 2003 took me 28 hours, 23 minutes – this year, on a slower trail and less then ideal temperatures, it took us 27 hours, 9 minutes. I don’t think I need to tell anyone I’m smiling!

(Note: Race results will be archived on the Knik 200 site here).

 

Karen