cb300

After leaving Paxson Lodge checkpoint yesterday morning my dogs took a haw where they needed to take a gee on windblown Paxson Lake, leaving me to hand lead them over to the marked trail which was marked only by a few markers about 300 yards away, I could see it but the dogs couldn't. I led them over twice before we got going good again. My sled slid sideways after we crossed the first section of glare ice before flipping up on it's side. My head hit the ice and I blacked out. I lost time for the first time in my life. I remember getting back on my sled and looking up at my lead dogs. They stood there looking at me. Disorientated, I got up and we kept going down the lake. My arm felt sore and that was about all I can recall. the dogs moved fine right past our kennel with the wind to our back. We turned the corner at the point right beyond our kennel and I lost time again. You smack you noggen on hard ice, you suffer some time loss, you're driving a healthy team of 12 dogs for another...170 miles.....what are you going to do? this was a problem for me.
It is still unclear to me what happened right then in there. I remember slipping off, losing my feet and turning the sled on it's side to stop the dogs so I could get back on. When I got back on the sled, I was dizzy and unable to hold on with a strong grip. I needed to take a long break on the beach. But now we're sitting in wind gusts up to 45 mph.
Instead, I turned my healthy team around for home. My handlers were confused as to why their musher was coming back home with a nice string of dogs.

3rd strike from the basin race, not a good feeling for me. Can't sit and beat myself up. Can't worry what others might be saying.
Must get on with my racing this season, there's better times ahead for me and my team.

I sit here now with a large lump on the back of my head while I revisit the first 130 miles & how things seemed to be going pretty well; the trail was very good, the mountain was pretty awesome with more snow than expected and the water crossings...good!...for the first time I didn't have dogs balling up in a tangled mess--they listened and we got through some of the toughest sections gracefully. This team isn't the strongest on the hills but can move steady on the flats and they listen, and they trust. Mambo was the most impressive young dog in the team coming into her own on this race, and eating everything in sight, and Robin/Motta in lead got stronger the further we traveled. The dogs stayed steady, eating and sleeping right on schedule. that was beautiful. My leaders shot down the trail out of Paxson, without assistance. We were one of the very few teams that didn't need assistance. It upsets me now to think how we train on this ice day in and day out...why this happened now rather than later or prior and how my decisions in the cb300 effect my attitude in future racing.

.................ahhhhhhh screeeeam! this wasn't supposed to happen!!

I'm the first to admit there's much for me to learn in this sport of dog racing....I wasn't born into this lifestyle and the kind of "tough" one needs to get through some pretty bad stuff....my lifestyle before Alaska was something totally different and the mechanics of this sport are new to me... some of the most crucial skills in this sport are some of my greatest challenges to learn and understand. Not the tough trails, living outside in the cold, or working and living and breathing dogs day in and day out...those are the rewards......it's learning to fix things on the run, deal with serious hurt when need be and staying strong when the body feels weak....yes, I am only human. Now you know. But human with drive and desire.

It's obvious to the world that the Cb300 race and I haven't got along real too well. Yet.
And that when you start traveling with dogs 150 mile or more under race expectations, things change out there and it's not all roses, all the time. My accomplishments in dog racing have been super small with little 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th place finishes in 150 mile to 300 mile races over a 3 year period. This is a small step in my racing goals. I'm disappointed but not even close to calling it quits. I'm too damn stubborn and we'll keep at it. why? Traveling and living with dogs on the run, love of racing and I know we have what it takes, it's in there.
I have to work harder at accessing it. The blessings and opportunity are all right here open to me and I've got to get better and saying Yes, we can do this... and giving myself permission to be successful when things fall apart..out there. Isn't this all about learning and working to become a better musher? I've got very good dogs, a passion that won't quit, some of the best training under my belt, more knowledge than the year before, a super team of people working for me (you girls, rock!) and the best husband, best friend & team player a girl could ask for. We're healthy and thankful.

Thank you to my handlers, my friends, family, fans and sponsors for all your love and blessings.
we're running south for the Klondike 300 next weekend.

zd