Finally!!!

Geez! It's about time right? The internet up here in "the bush" has been out of whack lately. So here I am, finally catching everyone up!

Not a lot of activity since our UP check point practice. On Sunday I did have a near death experience. Well, maybe not near death, but nearly crapped my pants. Here's what happened. On Sunday Mark and Mary were still in Duluth and Rob and I were going to run dogs. We decided to try 8 dogs. Rob has run 8 dogs a few times before, but I never have. Mark said it would be fine as long as I felt comfortable. I want to get ready for the Mush for a Cure, where I'll be running 8 dogs. So, we figured Sunday was as good a day as any.

We had our sleds and gang lines all ready. I set my sled up as usual; my snow hook in a tire that is anchored to a buried post. We hooked our teams up and were ready to go. Rob took off first, then me. I tried to pull the snow hook from the tire, while standing on my braking track. With an extra two dogs, I wasn't strong enough to pull the hook from that stance. So I put one foot on the runner, the other on the braking track and pulled the hook. The dogs took off, pulling the sled out from under me. I fell flat on my stomach, snow hook still in my left hand, and my right arm on the emergency brake, still hanging onto the sled. Just before we took the corner out of the dog yard, I set the snow hook, while still being drug along on my belly. The snow hook set nice and solid. For a millisecond I felt the dogs slow down, then SNAP. The line connecting the snow hook to the sled snapped, and off we went again, me still being pulled along, fully extended, grabbing on for dear life to the emergency brake.

Rob always waits at the top of the first hill to make sure I've made it out okay. This time he heard me before he saw me. I was screaming "WHOA!!!! WHOA!!!" in hopes that the dogs would slow down. I was also putting as much weight and strength into pushing the emergency brake into the ground. Rob heard me yelling and then saw me. Well, part of me. He saw my dog team, my sled, and my feet kicking behind the sled. As the dogs approached the hill, they saw Rob and his team and slowed down. Rob grabbed my leaders and the dogs stopped just long enough for me to stand up, shake off the snow I had accumulated, and off we went again.

It was a little scary, but mostly just CRAZY! I feel pretty good that I made all the right choices as things were going wrong. The only thing we didn't do, that we should of, is go back to the dog yard and get a new snow hook. We finished our 7 mile loop and then came back. So next time, if there ever is a next time (i hope not) we will head back to the dog yard ASAP!

The next couple of days running 8 dogs went smooth! I am happy to say, no other incidents. Every time I go on a run, I'm imagining the 8 dogs I'll get to take to Mush for a Cure. I'm so excited!

Yesterday Mark, Mary, and 12 of the Varsity team packed up and headed out for the UP race!! They will be gone for a whole week. The dog yard will seem quiet with all of them missing. The race starts on Friday at 7:00 pm. I know I've had high hopes for our other two races, but I can feel it on this one. The dogs look great! So cross your fingers, send good vibes, whatever you do, WISH THEM LUCK!!!