Status Report - December 10th

Things have been less then ideal on the mushing front. Last week we had a run in the driving rain. We've been running back and forth on Waskey Road. Temperatures haven't been below freezing much. Snow has been falling in recent days, but it's been warm and the creeks are open and the tundra is still wet - no base at all. We're scheduled to start dropping into the teens late this week. That would help a lot.

My next move is to start doing laps on Snake Lake Road. This road is different from Waskey Road. It's small and not maintained during the winter. It's further North and usually has more snow and colder temperatures. The dogs will be loaded into the truck and driven to where it begins. Some snow machines trailered up there and hopefully packed down a decent trail. Folks have said it is 7-8 miles long (I'll check it with the GPS) so we'll still be doing laps, but it will be in a new place, on a trail, in front of a sled. Hopefully the dogs will respond well to it.

As far as the dogs go - Chester has had a tough time of it lately. I think it's a combination of things. He's going through an adolescent phase. His littermates have gone through it also. They live with Swanny in Two Rivers. Swanny maintains a blog at http://oldschoolak.blogspot.com/ . It's fun to check his blog and see how Nells and Rose are doing. Chester's got a few other issues going on as well I suspect. For one, it's been warm. Very warm. Chester has got an enormous thick coat. The warm temperatures have got to be hard on him. Also, the longer miles just aren't for him right now. He's still young and not fully developed. I've still got high hopes for him as a great working dog and don't want to ruin him for a race where his participation won't make a bit of difference anyway. We're going to let Chester lay low and get him hauling wood and pulling weight for a living after the Kusko.

Sadly, I think Arctic has got hip displasia. We don't have a veterinarian out here so I'm not certain, but I think that's what he's got. Arctic is 7 years old. I bought him from a reputable breeder when he was 4. He's always been a great working dog and I couldn't figure out why he was having trouble after about 25 miles. He'd start hopping on his back feet instead of using his solid trot. He's always had boundless energy and he'd come back from easy runs totally worn out. The back feet would sort of splay out with the ankles close together. Did some reading on the internet and I'm pretty sure that's what he's got. Will make an apointment with Dr. Hagee when he returns.

Hagar on the other hand has been recovering from his injury nicely. No signs of pain or discomfort although I check his hind leg often. We worked him back into the runs slowly. He'd ride in the truck until the run was half over and then finish the run in harness (one nice thing about running with the truck, plenty of room). This weekend he completed a 50 mile run with shining colors. I still don't think he can run the entire Kusko 300, but am starting to wonder if he could at least go with us to the first or second checkpoint. He's one of the only mature experienced dogs I've got and the starting line scene won't bother him any. I'll talk it over with the vet.

So where does this leave us? We've got 11 dogs in the running for the Kusko including Hagar. Even if Hagar didn't start the race we'd have 10 (assuming no one gets hurt - cross your fingers!). Kusko 300 rules state that a person may start the race with no more then 14 and no fewer then 7. A team must have no fewer then 5 dogs in harness and attached to the gangline at all times. Teams regularly finish the race with 7 or 8 dogs still in harness, many are still running 10 dogs. So where 10 dogs is still a workable number, there is not the room for error I would like to have. Dogs are dropped during a distance race for any number of reasons - injury, dehydration, loss of appetite, or just running out of steam and not wanting to go any more. My dogs have plenty of muscle so using 7, 6, or 5 dogs to pull a light load on a broken trail isn't a problem. My biggest fear is injuries. If certain dogs get hurt, I'm in big trouble. I've mainly been running Luke, Bing, and Lucky in lead. I'm going to do some more work with Felix as he has been leading well lately. Lucy has run some lead, but isn't ready for a race. Phoebe may be able to run some lead, but she's iffy. Hagar is a lead dog, but is very out of practice. Hasn't run lead all year. We have always been a small pack and know each other well. The numbers don't bother me. The 10 dogs I do have look solid. I know them well and they trust me. We should be fine together.

We haven't gotten as many miles on the dogs as I was hoping. This lousy weather has seen to that. Luke has got 588 and the others fall in behind that. The goal is to get 1000 miles on the dogs by January 1st. Since the runs are much longer now, this is a realistic goal. The dogs haven't been anywhere near exhaustion. They had plenty of spunk after the 50 miler so we need to push them a little. The Kusko is a whole lot more then one 50 mile run though. It's a series of runs with relatively short rests between them. That's the hardest part of distance mushing as I understand it. It's not the running, but the resting. The competitive musher's will run the 300 mile race while resting their dogs 10-13 hours. They'll also enter the race with 2000 plus miles. We'll enter the race with 1200-1500 miles and will rest a minimum of 20 hours. The rest is planned for the front side of the race. If they need it on the back side, they'll get it then too. The Kusko is not the Iditarod or Yukon Quest, but 300 miles is a long way to run. No question about it.

I honestly don't know how we're going to do in this race. There is no way to be certain. That fact is both exciting and nerve racking at the same time. I will prepare them, and myself, to the best of my ability and let the cards fall where they may. I believe the key is rest. If I give the dogs enough rest they should be fine.

My dad was a successful basketball and volleyball coach for many years winning many championships. He always told us if you weren't nervous before a game you just weren't ready. Well, I'm feeling more ready every day.