If you read most of The Blog posts from this year, you ran across songs on the Seeing Double Iditarod 2024 Playlist.  Here is the final compilation...

Prelude ~
Crazy by Gnarles Barkley.

Main Event ~
Feel It Still by Portugal. The Man.
Add It Up by The Violent Femmes.
Centerfield by John Fogarty.
Keep On by Portugal. The Man.
Jump by Van Halen.
Nite Becomes Day by Citizen Cope.
On the Road Again by Willie Nelson.
When the Night Feels My Song by Bedouin Soundclash.
Down By the River by Milky Chance.
Country Roads by The Black Tartan Clan.
Beautiful Day by U2.
Running’ Down A Dream by Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers.
Safety Dance by Men Without Hats.

Encore ~
The Iditarod Trail Song by Hobo Jim.
​
Madly crafted by Seeing Double’s Mad Blogger, with suggestions from the twins.  You should be able to track down any of these songs on iTunes or Amazon Music, or wherever you source your jams.

Our mom and this Mad Blogger got a great phone call from Anna on Sunday afternoon before the banquet and in between meetings and meet-n-greets.  She sounded great, but perhaps with a little scratch in her voice after talking more in the last four days than she had in the prior ten.


Anna first thanked us for the “Nome bag”, a collection of goodies that mom and I put together and Kristy shuttled to Nome.  Sounds like candy, face lotion, and drink mixes (Powerade and several others) were the first things she raided.


She then walked us through the entire race.  I took frantic notes and will relay as much as I can.


The trail was pretty good launching off the restart.  It was Anna’s plan to only mush 35 miles and then stop for a shorter rest before Yentna.  Apparently that confused more than one musher who passed her by, a couple asking if everything was ok.  She laughed if off, particularly when she only stopped in Yentna briefly to resupply and then hit the trail again.  She said part of the reason she did that is that Yentna is very busy and a bit chaotic, so she was happy to quickly pass through.


The trail wasn’t great into Finger Lake.  Mushers travel some rough stretches on this leg, which is ironic when running virtually alongside it is a marvelously groomed, wide cat trail.  It sounds like more than a few mushers questioned why they didn’t just travel on the groomed section there, particularly when it would have been easier on the dogs.  I suspect this may be raised during after-race meetings and will perhaps spark a change in the future.


The Happy River Steps weren’t too bad, at least for the first couple downhill plunging switchbacks.  Approaching the last step, though, there is trail that goes right (which some snow machines take) and another, the proper Iditarod race trail, that goes left.   Anna was running an eighteen dog line at this point (she still had 16 dogs but some were running single) and before she could get them stopped and redirected, 8 dogs had managed to plunge down a ditch trying to take the right veering trail.  Anna got her snow hook set and fortunately a snow machine rider came along and was able to further stand on Anna’s brake while she hauled the 8 dogs up (they were all fine) and got the team headed on the correct trail.


Fortunately all of that transpired before Anna got to the bottom of the third step, where a camera crew was set up with hopes of getting some dramatic footage from one team or another.  Not from her!


Rainy Pass was largely uneventful, and the weather had it really socked in.  That turned out to be a good thing.  Anna has seen the views from up there many times, and she more appreciated the inclement weather as it kept all but one plane grounded.  Otherwise, plane noise is almost overwhelming. Ironically, it was the first year she remembered to pack ear plugs in her sled for just this checkpoint.


To hear Anna call the Gorge “great” was a very rare thing, but we heard it this year.  There was plenty of snow coverage, decent trail, and the ice bridges were in really good shape. Toward the bottom of the Gorge, when the plunge finally subsides a bit but directly onto a substantial glacier, Anna saw a glow.  Yep… another camera crew hoping for “good” footage.  Anna laughed when she told us this part… saying she and the dogs came flying down but totally in control, hit the glacier with a skid and a wink, charged right over, and continued on.  She heard one of the crew exclaim, “Who was that?!”  Sorry, folks ~ Anna cruised right through that tough section no problem.  You’ll have to get your footage from someone else.


Anna described how icy it was immediately before Rohn, and how rookie dog Anvik did not like that much ice one little bit.  She was doing great otherwise, but Anna knew how long the ice could potentially extend past Rohn, and she couldn’t ask this little sweetie to tackle that.  Especially when Anna was planning to leave Rohn completely loaded up with extra food and straw for a campout along the way.  Anna wasn’t thrilled to have returned three dogs already by Rohn, but she also knew she had sent them home for the right reasons.


Rampage and Shoshanna led the way over the ice out of Rohn, and they tackled it like old pros.  Shoshanna has a tendency to veer right when she’s running, and she kept knocking into Rampage.  Anna was watching all this… Shoshanna bump, Rampage nudge her back.  Eventually Shoshanna did it one more time and Rampage full body-checked her back into line.  I think she finally took the hint!  Such is pack camaraderie.


Anna and the dogs had a nice campout at Tin Creek as they made their way to Nikolai, and the weather was still very mild at this point in the race.  Anna also tackled the Farewell Burn along this stretch, and despite her concerns about it leading up to the race, it turned out to be no big deal at all.  She had a 13 dog team then and it was 30 miles of dust and dirt, but she didn’t need to deploy her rough locks (chains on the sled runners used to create friction and slow her team down) or release any tug lines from the dogs (releasing a tug line still has a dog attached with a neck line to the team, but their pulling force is removed).  Net net, the dogs did great.


A few of her pups started having some stomach issues after Nikolia, decreased appetite and some diarrhea.  Running out of McGrath, especially having just returned three more dogs leaving a team of ten, was rough.  It was really the point at which she new she wasn’t racing anymore.  She couldn’t ask her dogs to compete with those ahead of her.  They would have to add more rest and take things one run at a time.  Anna was able to get a call on her GCI cell phone to Kristy, who gave her the kind of pep talk that only an identical twin sister can.


Things improved a bit after everyone got some substantial rest in Ophir during Anna’s 24.  The dogs were eating better.  But then - it got cold.  SO cold.


Anna and her team made it through Cripple and were 4 or 5 miles outside of Ruby in the middle of the night.  It was at least -25F.  Anna was tired, but she didn’t realize how tired until her reflexes were tested.  Her sled hit a bump and she was a bit too slow adjusting her grip on the handlebars.  She was also wearing very warm but rather cumbersome beaver mittens.  The next thing she knew, she was thrown into the snow and there her team went trotting off without her.


Being separated from the dog team is a musher’s worst nightmare.  So many things can happen.  It is something that has happened in the Iditarod before, including this year to Ryan Redington!  (And I think, briefly, to Paige Drobny.). Maybe it’s the spirits guiding teams down the trail, but in all the instances I can remember, it always turned out ok.  It did for Anna this time, too.


Despite unimaginable panic, Anna started to run.  But it didn’t take long for panic to lose its grip and reality to set in.  Anna knew she couldn’t run and catch her team, who were easily trotting along at 8 to 10mph.  So she settled into a purposeful walk and dug out her phone.  Fortunately she had that on her, as the sat phone she had borrowed for the race was in her sled with the dogs, as were all of her provisions and the race issued GPS trackers.


Even more fortunately, her GCI cell phone had a signal.  She was able to reach race marshal Mark Nordman and have him alert officials at the Ruby checkpoint to watch her tracker and have someone ready to intercept her team if it was spotted.  She was also able to reach Kristy, who made a few more calls on her behalf.  At one point, Anna saw something on the trail and realized it was her dog Platinum’s collar.  She could only pray that Platinum’s harness tug was still attached to the rest of the team.


Frantic with worry, tired, sweating, Anna finally saw a light.  And then another.  The first glow was from the safety lights on her dog team.  The second was an approaching snow machine with checkpoint officials from Ruby.


They were able to slowly approach the team from each side and, thank the spirits, everyone was fine.  Platinum was still connected to the team, the sled was there with all its contents.  A couple dogs were a little tangled up, but no injuries.


This Mad Blogger had learned of the incident from Kristy during the race, and even though I knew it ended well, I didn’t know if it was something Anna would want shared more broadly.  I asked her during our call if she would prefer I not share this, but she said go ahead.  It happened.  No one was injured, and they ultimately finished the race.  Anna is one cool cucumber.


Finally settled in Ruby with the dogs fed and resting, Anna pulled out some ashes she volunteered to carry during the race and spread along the trail.  She found a nice spot when everything was quiet and the northern lights were overhead and had a quiet moment for Dan.


Anna had plenty of space in Ruby to spread her gear out to dry.  She shook off the recent debacle and hit the trail again.


From there, Anna said it just got colder.  And colder.


There were some narrow trails at this point, and Anna struggled a bit to find a good place to pull over for a campout.  She finally found a spot that would do.  She saw -30F, -35F as she made her way to Galena.  Eventually she stopped pulling off her mittens to fish out the thermometer and look.  It was bloody cold.  Knowing exactly how cold wasn’t going to help.


Galena ended up being a very nice checkpoint.  Anna had access to boot driers, tasty people food, and an excellent quality of straw for bedding down the dogs (not all of the straw provided this year was of as high quality).


She and the dogs ran to Nulato, rested, and hit the trail again to Kaltag, resting again in checkpoint.  It was still cold.  I think she said it was on the stretch between Kaltag and Una when she encountered a lot of hills, and she hopped off the sled and helped the dogs by running up a lot of them herself.  She was warmed given the exertion, but she was also sweating.  And then the sun set and it got colder.  She finally got to Tripod Cabin and got the dogs fed and settled in their beds with fleece blankets (I believe made by a group of school kids!) outside.  Anna went inside and was delighted to find an ample supply of wood, generously left by a native villager.  She said she got that little stove really cranked up, and it was so warm and toasty in the little cabin.


Anna was keeping a close eye on Havoc at this time.  He was eating ok, but Anna worried he might be getting a touch thin.  She had him take some short rides in the sled basket to make sure he wasn’t doing too much.  But with a couple more meals and a little extra rest, he seemed to pep up.


Some of the worst winds of the race were, not surprisingly, around Shaktoolik.  Some winds were particularly nasty, and direct headwinds.  Anna felt like she was nothing more than a big sail standing up behind her sled.  She ended up crouching down at the rear of her sled bag and using one of her ski poles to help the team along.  It saved her a little wind to the face and decreased her resistance to the wind, making it easier for her dog team to travel.


Besides the wind, Anna and her team saw a beautiful orange and red fox outside of Shak.  Apparently it was moving at top fox speed, perhaps startled by the dog team or chasing a meal.  But Anna said it was really zipping along.  She also saw some ptarmigan and snow buntings, for fellow bird fans out there.


By Koyuk, the winds finally lightened up a bit.  Anna talked about how they took a slightly different route with the trail this year around Elim, going through the woods and behind a weather tower.  There was an icy hill that was challenging.  I think it was near here that she said Diego started to change his gait a bit indicating his shoulder was bothering him, so despite him being very feisty about the whole thing, she returned him from Elim.


It was pretty hilly from there to White Mountain, but nothing unmanageable.  Rampage was a great leader with Shoshanna and, with Rampage having been to Nome several times before, knew the trail - knew they were getting close to their ultimate destination.  He was a great leader and driving force as they got closer to Nome.


When Anna had been in White Mountain for about an hour, she sent me a text.  “I’m all alone here.”  And she was.  Yes, there were race officials, vets, villagers, a few others scattered about.  But she was the lone musher.  I had no idea how to reply at first, and ultimately just sent my love and encouragement.  I asked Anna about how it felt to be all alone in WM, and for a great majority of the race overall.  She said she missed having Kristy with her, obviously.  But even though she was alone a lot, and really didn’t encounter many other mushers at all while traveling the trail, she “liked her little bubble.”  No passing or being passed.  No crowded camp spots or cabins.  Just the wilderness and her dogs, running between quiet checkpoints.


Anna said her dog team left White Mountain well.  Elmer may have rolled his eyes a little bit, but he went along with his pack.  The race did actually implement some rules new to 2024 with respect to handling your lead dogs after a certain point leaving WM.  I believe the intention of this was to make sure the dogs were leaving of their own volition and not being overly coerced by their musher.  No one seems to have had any problems with that this year.


Anna said the blowhole between WM and Nome wasn’t too bad.  “Normal - windy but not scary windy.”  She saw another beautiful fox along this stretch and it too was moving quite smartly.  Her dogs spotted it and while they didn’t give chase, they did pick up their pace a bit.


It was a bit warmer after WM, so she spent some time taking off the dogs’ jackets only to put them back on as she got close to the blowhole.  She also stopped, I think between Safety and Nome, to swap Shoshanna out of lead and Mayhem in.  Shoshanna isn’t exactly great with crowds, so Anna wanted to take the pressure of the finish off her furry shoulders.  As it was, the dog team tried to move to the side of Front Street after they pulled onto the final stretch, as that is how they always train when they encounter roads around home.  So her team wasn’t exactly arrow straight approaching the chute.


But then they were into the finish and she gave Kristy a big hug!    She went around to her eight finishing pups and Kristy followed with frozen pork chop snacks.  It did take Anna a minute to find the race issued tokens in her sled, but they were found eventually.  She had tucked them in a pocket in another pocket before the restart.


It was a relief to reach Nome.  It was crazy running over the haphazardly gutted moose early in the race.  It was a race dominated by only low precipitation - light snow - but high winds and extreme cold.


Anna mostly hit the trail this year with tried and trusted gear, but she did say the Musher dog jackets she had were only put into circulation shortly before Iditarod.  But she was thrilled with how those jackets performed.  They worked great, had a good fit, and the colors really reflected well and lit up the dogs at night.  After Anna returned a dog, Nic Petit asked to borrow the now spare harness, also made by Musher.  Hopefully he had as good an experience with the Musher dog gear.


With an even more crackly voice, Anna finally said she had to do a gear drop at the airport in Nome before going to the banquet.  So we said good bye.


I’m always amazed when Anna can keep all of those details straight in her head.  And apparently she also gave a great finisher speech at the banquet Sunday night - even extending some props to this Mad Blogger and fluidly tossing about Iditarod history trivia.


I’m one proud Mad Blogger and not-a-twin sister!!


Anna, Kristy, and all the dogs are now home safe at the kennel in Knik.  They will decompress, take the dogs on some runs, sort through any gear Anna sent back from her drop bags out on the trail.  Sort through booties, wash the reusable ones.  Hang with their house cats, Mittens and McMuffin.  They may enter a short sled dog race (the Nome Sign 40-miler) not far from the home kennel later in March, and the spring ACE Race in April.


I’ll be back with one more (far briefer) post to wrap things up for 2024.

I hope everyone is having a good weekend, and Happy St. Patrick’s Day to those who celebrate!

To those closely following the 52nd Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, you’ve probably already celebrated the arrival of our 29th and final musher into Nome. Rookie Jeff Reid of Two Rivers, Alaska, and his seven dog team pulled under the burled arch at 2:22am on Saturday, March 16th. After 12 days, 11 hours, 22 minutes and 1 second, Jeff extinguished the red lantern and officially concluded this year’s race.

Our scratch tally increased by one more musher since my last post, for a final total of 9. Rookie Sean Williams of Chugiak, Alaska, set his snow hook one final time in Elim (race mile 852) and was officially noted as scratched late Friday morning, March 15th. He had 10 dogs in harness at the time, all reported in good health. Seeing Double wishes Sean and his team safe and swift travels home.

Our total of nine scratches is pretty in line with historical averages, this year at 23.7% of the starting field being only modestly higher than the 21.7% scratch average since the race’s inception, and 20.4% scratch average since 2000. Ten of the original sixteen rookies off the start made it all the way to Nome and join a very exclusive club. Per this Mad Blogger’s tally, only 842 separate individuals have successfully completed the Iditarod. Many, like the twins, have successfully done it many times. But only 842 people can raise their hands and say, “I did the Iditarod trail.”

At least by dog sled, while competing in the Iditarod.

Speaking of the dogs, I’m happy to report that Anna’s entire dog team is now back at the kennel and in his or her own bed. The twins were able to fly the team out on Friday, where they were collected by friends helping at the kennel for a few days.

I reviewed the info on the 8 dogs finishing with Anna this year, and was happy to see 7 of the 8 are Seeing Double dogs, and the one finisher on loan, Trout, a rookie pup finisher. Trout, a five year old female, was on loan from Redingtons, and had recently run the Jr. Iditarod with Ellen Redington. That’s awesome creds for Trout and I hope she brings lots of success to Ellen in future runs. The other rookie pup to finish was 4 year old Elmer, a Seeing Double dog. Good boy, Elmer!!

Anna, with Kristy as her plus one, will attend the Finisher’s Banquet in Nome tonight before catching a very late flight home. I think it will be the wee hours Monday morning before they’re finally back at the kennel and Anna is finally home again.

I hope to speak with her, even if only briefly, later today before she heads to the banquet, and I plan to be back with some more stories fresh from the trail. In the meantime, Anna and Kristy did send more a few more pics, Anna from the trail and Kristy from in Nome.

Enjoy! And Sláinte!

​Seeing Double Iditarod 2024 Playlist…
Song 13: The Iditarod Trail Song by Hobo Jim.

If you were watching Anna’s GPS tracker, intent on seeing her and the dogs into Nome, am I right when I say those last couple of miles were the longest miles ever?  They were worse than football minutes… when there’s three and a half minutes on the clock, but 37 minutes and another beer later, you’re still in front of the tv?!  I think those were some of the longer miles I have armchair mushed as Seeing Double’s Mad Blogger.

It was well worth the wait, though.  Sun shining, plumes of frosty breath coming from fans lining the chute, my app reported -1F in Nome with only a light breeze.  Sitting in Wisconsin with our Mom and my dog, Otis, we saw Kristy walk into view.  Laughed when she and her husband, Andy, waved and later took a selfie.

And finally, Anna’s dogs in their light green Musher dog jackets, came into view.  Anna mushed up the remainder of Front Street, made sure her lead dogs crossed under the burled arch, set her snow hooks, and after 10 days, 22 hours, 24 minutes, and 1 second, was in Nome.  21st place.

When Anna got off her sled and gave Kristy a big hug, I’ll admit it, I was on the verge of choking up.  I know Anna missed sharing this journey with her twin.  Meanwhile, Kristy could imagine exactly - literally, exactly - what Anna was going through out there.  As I wrote these posts, I missed knowing they were traveling together.  They’re perfectly capable on their own.  But the force is particularly strong when they’re together.  So seeing them together again felt pretty darn good.  I’m sure all of their family, friends, and fans felt the same.

Watching the live feed, in addition to Anna and Kristy’s monster embrace, I very much loved seeing the dogs and how happy they looked.  Lots of wagging tails, at least one dog plopped into the snow and did a happy “powder sugar roll”.  Anna promptly went to each dog after hugging Kristy, lavishing them with praise.  They certainly earned it!  And the snacks that followed.  I think both twins were handing out frozen chunks of beef and fish, and I saw more than one dog double dip.

The eight dogs going the full 975 race miles with Anna include Mayhem and Havoc, who lead the way into Nome, Shoshanna, Astro, Platinum, Rampage, Trout, and Elmer.  The other eight ~ Maverick, Ruckus, Albert, Zwickel, Anvik, Rocky, Fog, and Diego are all home at the kennel and doing great.  Yes, Diego is actually already back at the kennel.  He had a chance to hop an Iditarod Air Force flight from Unalakleet right back to Anchorage and then a ride to the kennel, and that made more sense than detouring through Nome.

Bottom line, all the dogs are healthy and either with the twins in Nome or home at the kennel (or the kennel they were loaned from in one or two instances).

Back to the burled arch… Before a finisher can really drop the mic, so to speak, he or she has to check off mandatory gear items with officials.  This includes an arctic sleeping bag, an axe, snowshoes, some Iditarod promotional material (trail mail and tokens), 8 booties per dog (2 pair each), a cooker and pot, enough fuel (HEET) to boil water in the aforementioned, a vet book, a non-chafing harness for each dog, and an insulated dog coat for each dog.  Additional specifications go with each item.  I haven’t learned what yet, but one item on that list seemed to really be hiding in Anna’s sled bag.  It apparently got settled, but I’ll be curious to learn what she was digging around for!

With that sorted, Anna hopped back on her sled.  I think Kristy ran in front to help guide them down to their parking spot in the dog lot.  I learned that Kristy had all the dogs beds set up.  The sky kennels they use to fly the dogs home can easily be split in half, and the lower half gets lined with fresh straw.  The dogs can bask in the sun, nap, get their regular meals.  The two times I have been to the finish in Nome, the dog lot is my very favorite place to be.

It requires credentials, though, and is closely watched.  Veterinary and volunteer eyes on high alert.  But with the dogs settled, fed, and secured on a line, the twins can finally rest and catch up.  I think there may have been pizza involved.  And I know Anna will sleep very, very well.  Oh, and a nice hot shower.

She won’t sleep too long, though.  She’s pretty trail hardened at this point.  And the urge to check on her dogs every few hours will keep her from totally crashing.  I believe they have arrangements to fly the dogs home Friday or Saturday, and then the finishers banquet is Sunday before they catch the next available flight home themselves.

New fans might feel like I’m about to close the curtain for this year, but fear not!  It has been my tradition since this Mad Blogger’s first year in 2012.  I will not close the blog until the final musher, our 2024 Red Lantern, is safely into Nome.

Which, lucky for you, isn’t too terribly long.  After Anna arrived early Thursday afternoon in 21st, she was followed by three rookies ~ Will Rhodes, Lara Kittleson, and Anna Hennessy.  A name I’ve mentioned before, rookie Bryce Mumford, ended up scratching in Unalakleet after a long slog on that long stretch from Kaltag.  He had 12 dogs in harness and I’m happy to say they were all reported in good health.  Bryce is from Idaho and on behalf of Seeing Double, this Mad Blogger wishes him and his dogs safe and swift travels back to their home kennel.

With 24 into Nome and our scratch tally growing to 8, we have 6 mushers still on the trail to Nome.  They’re all rookies.  One is out of White Mountain, three are in WM, and two are making their way from Elim.  Sean Williams and Joshua Robbins are our current Red Lanterns with 93 miles to the finish.

Before I finish this post, I have two other noteworthy things to report.  First - and I think this is HUGE - for the first time in 52 years of the Iditarod, four women made the Top 10 this year.  Paige Drobny claimed 5th, Mille Porsild 7th, Amanda Otto took 8th, and Jessie Royer rounded it out in 10th.  That is just outstanding!  Well done, ladies.  Well done.

Another woman who deserves some mad props is rookie Josi Thyr of Fairbanks, Alaska.  She earned 2024 Rookie of the Year when she crossed under the burled arch in 15th place and with 10 dogs in under 10 days and 7 hours.  Congrats, Josi!

In addition to covering the race through the red lantern, I also hope to post one or two special editions and a final recap after I talk to Anna!

So stay tuned.  It all might take a few days, but watch Insta or check the Blog every so often.  After all, you’ve come this far.
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This is Anna’s 13th time on the Iditarod trail, and thus my 13th stint as Mad Blogger for Seeing Double.  It’s not my first rodeo!  But it never fails… one or both of the twins get to this point in the race and it’s so easy to look at the map and think, “oh!  So close to the finish!”  But when Anna and her dogs left their most recent checkpoint, Elim, they still had 123 miles to go.  123 miles… That is not “close.”  It is over 12% of the race.

We last left Anna and her team mushing across the sea ice between Shaktoolik and Koyuk.  She ultimately spent about 6 hours mushing the 50 miles between checkpoints, arriving in KYK on Tuesday before 5pm.  Note, I had an error in my prior post.  She didn’t pull out of Shak at 4am - she arrived there at that time.  She hit the trail out of KYK at 10:44am.  Just in case I confused anyone.

Right.  So she arrived in KYK just before 5pm.  She gave the dogs and herself a seven hour rest and pulled her snow hook at 5 minutes to midnight.  She retained 9 dogs in front of her sled.  She also retained 21st place.

Anna spent the wee hours of Wednesday morning mushing the 48 miles from Koyuk to Elim, arriving there just before 6am.  She stayed six hours and, during that time, opted to return Diego home.  She sent a brief text explaining that Diego seemed to have a sore left pectoral muscle and she couldn’t ask him to go any farther.  Even if he wanted to, which he likely did.  I know it is hard on Anna to have returned as many dogs as she has this year.  She’s absolutely doing the right thing by each dog, and it isn’t so much hard physically on Anna as it is mentally.  You hate to see a teammate benched.  You second guess the decisions you made up to that point - what did I do wrong?  What should I have done better?  Maybe you learn something and make a change in the future.  Maybe there are no clear answers or lessons.

I’ve heard it said that the windshield of a car is so very much bigger than the rearview mirror because it is what is in front of you that is really important.  Kinda makes sense.  It’s not that what’s back there doesn’t count.  You simply can’t change it, so why not focus most of your attention on what’s ahead…?!

Anna pulled out of Elim at 12:01pm Wednesday, March 13th.  After returning Diego, she has 8 dogs:  Shoshanna, Mayhem, Astro, Platinum, Havoc, Rampage, Trout, and Elmer.  They have a 46 mile run to White Mountain (via Golovin, which isn’t an official checkpoint).  Anna and the pups will then take their final mandatory 8 hour rest in WM before mushing 55 miles to Safety and then a final 22 miles to Nome.

Which brings me to my annual finish prediction…!  Looking at her run times from Elim to the finish in 2023, 2022, and 2019 (as 2021 was the Gold Trail Loop and 2020 was the only year either of the twins scratched from the race), I figure she’ll need about 7 hours to run from Elim to White Mountain, plus her 8-hour rest in WM, plus 7 hours to run from WM to Safety, and another 3 to run from Safety to Nome… that’s 25 hours.  She left Elim around noon on Wednesday… I put her into Nome around 1pm Alaska time Thursday, March 14th.  Please remember to convert that to your own time zone and keep an eye on the Iditarod Insider GPS tracker if you intend to catch her live finish online.

Speaking of finishes… this feels like old news by this point, but I have to congratulate Dallas Seavey for claiming the Iditarod 2024 championship!  Dallas pulled under the burled arch Tuesday, March 12th, with 10 dogs in front of his sled after 9 days, 2 hours, 16 minutes and 8 seconds on the trail.  This is his sixth Iditarod championship, making history as the musher with the most first place finishes ever.  Dallas was in lucky Bib #7.

Less than five hours after Dallas arrived, fans in Nome welcomed Matt Hall in second place.  Rounding out the top five finishers was Jessie Holmes, Jeff Deeter, and Paige Drobny.  Travis Beals, who was in the lead throughout much of the early race, arrived 6th.  Our top 11 finishers all completed the race with a 9-day handle this year.

As I try and wrap up this post, we have a total of 13 finishers into Nome and 18 racing.  Our scratch tally has increased by one to a total of 7 scratched.  Rookie Calvin Daugherty, from Alaska, ended his race in Shaktoolik.  He had to scratch after one of his dogs, named Henry, collapsed outside of Shak.  It pains me to report that, despite attempts to revive the dog, he did not survive.  A necropsy will be performed and further investigations as necessary.  As far as I know, no additional information has been released with respect to the two prior dogs, Bog and George.

Which means, in my realm of Iditarod statistics, I must raise the dog death tally to 3 for this year.  I hope, desperately hope, that is the final one.  There hasn’t been a dog fatality in the Iditarod since 2019, and I really hate having to spend any time on this column of the aforementioned spreadsheet!

And I cannot end this post on such a solemn note.  With love in my heart for Bog, George, and Henry ~ I must return us to the trail.  One fun tidbit for you before I go… starting in Unalakleet, any dog returned by a musher is shuttled on to Nome, rather than flown back to Anchorage.  Diego is the only dog Anna has returned since UNA, so he’ll actually beat those still out on the trail into Nome.  Add to that, Kristy flew to Nome yesterday!  She and Diego will be so very excited to be reunited with Anna and the rest of the dogs Thursday afternoon.


Seeing Double Iditarod 2024 Playlist…
Song 12: Runnin’ Down A Dream by Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers.
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Seeing Double fans seem to hail from all over the place, so I don’t know what exactly the weather has been like where you’re at, but I hope it’s been a beautiful day.  This Mad Blogger has been busy the last couple of days, and I promise you I haven’t just been sitting around enjoying the nice weather we have had in northern Wisconsin.  Regardless, I owe everyone a big update.

(This is where you get comfortable, grab a beverage and a snack, maybe put your phone on silent…)

There have bee several additional scratches from this year’s race, and, tragically, at least two dogs have died.  I will elaborate on all of that as much as I can.  But first and foremost, let’s catch up to Anna.

Anna hasn’t scratched and all of her dogs are good!
I think you needed to read that first, before we armchair mush 125+ miles and catch up to her.

We last left Anna and her 10 dog team in Kaltag (race mile 629) Sunday evening, more than 7 days into this event.  They had been there for a couple hours when I posted the last update, and sure enough ~ she ended up resting in checkpoint for 5 hours 43 minutes before hitting the trail again (as I had suspected she would).

She did return one dog from Kaltag, and I now know that to have been Ruckus.  He wasn’t injured or anything, he simply was getting a little too thin.  Which means he wasn’t eating enough calories to compensate for how hard he was working out there.  And if you will recall from the dog bios, Ruckus is the hardest worker on the team.  I’m sure Anna will really miss having him on the line, and I know that is where Ruckus would prefer to be.  But if he was working really hard but not eating enough, the cold temps and the miles ahead could have taken their toll.  Anna’s decision to return him was the right one.

Anna and her now 9 dog team pulled out of Kaltag in 22nd place at 10:46pm on Sunday.  Ahead of her was the longest, and probably coldest, stretch of trail.  She did camp out along the way, and ultimately it took 16 hours 38 minutes to mush that 85 miles.  It took a couple mushers 17, or even 18, hours to complete that run.  Travis Beals spent a whopping 22 hours and 6 minutes running that leg!!

It was 3:24pm on Monday, March 11th, when Anna and her team reached Unalakleet (race mile 714).  She arrived in 21st place.

I expected Anna to rest in UNA for 6-7 hours after the long run she had just had, and I was right.  She rested 6 hours 30 minutes before taking off again.  And I know while she was in checkpoint, in addition to taking extra good care of her dogs, she also got a long nap in a shelter.  And she had some pizza!  Many years ago, fans facilitated a pizza delivery from Peace On Earth in Unalakleet to some mushers (including the late Paul Gebhardt).  Instantly a tradition was born.  Now Peace On Earth takes orders for lots of mushers from friends and fans all over the place.  They watch the GPS trackers so they can try to get the pizza ready at the checkpoint for right when a musher arrives.  Each pizza box has a name, a bib number, and perhaps a personal greeting.  Can you imagine what a warm slice and a nice message mean to a musher at this point in the race?!

After dog care, a slice, and a nap, Anna left Unalakleet with 9 dogs in harness on Monday afternoon (3:24pm).  She arrived in the next checkpoint of Shaktoolik before 10pm after a little more than 6 hours out on that 40 miles of trail.

If you’ve looked closely at the Iditarod map, you’ll see that mushers reach the Bering Sea coast when they reach UNA.  But most of the trail from there to Shaktoolik (race mile 754) is still overland.  Close to the sea ice and the coast, but mainly on land.  After Shak, though, mushers cross a brief peninsula of land before heading out onto the sea ice.  Every year since 2010, when one of my sisters has been on the trail, I dread that section of trail.  Seeing one or two trackers out on this expanse of sea ice, and knowing it is a loved one and all their furry loved ones, is quite stressful.

And that’s where Anna is while I finish up this post.  Smack dab in the middle of a frozen bay.  My weather app says it’s 5F below zero and there are winds at over 20mph.  It allegedly feels like -28F.  She left Shak to tackle this stretch of trail at 4:11am.  She left with 9 dogs still in harness and was out in 21st place.

It is 50 miles from Shak to Koyuk, and mostly over that dreaded sea ice.  I expect Anna and her pups to take another good 5-6 hour rest in KYK after they get there.

Ok - are you cold?  Are you tired?  Are you craving pizza?!  Hang on, we’ll get there.

Speaking of people getting there… Did you realize we are close to having this year’s winner?  Dallas Seavey is reported out of the final checkpoint, Safety, and is only 13 miles from Nome.  If he seals the deal, he will now hold the most Iditarod championships in history with 6 wins.  Previously, his 5 wins had him tied with Rick Swenson.  And Dallas’s dad, Mitch, holds the record for the fastest Iditarod, which he earned in 2017 after 8 days, 3 hours, 40 minutes, and 13 seconds on the trail.

But wait!  2017 was the year they rerouted the race to run from Fairbanks to Nome (due to a lack of snow through the Alaska range).  That year, the race miles amounted to 979 miles.  This year?  975.  But!  A great deal of the 2017 race was run on the Yukon River freeway.  Not over the Alaska Range and through the woods.  Should Iditarod recognize a “fastest” finish for each trail route run - northern, southern, Fairbanks, and Gold Trail Loop (covid year)?  Maybe.  But they don’t.  And we’re past the 9 day mark, so Dallas won’t be taking any “fastest” titles away from his dad.

The back of the pack is still a long list of Iditarod rookies, with the red lantern Bryce Mumford having pulled out of Kaltag just before 7am on Tuesday.  Bryce is running a 12 dog team.  According to GPS, as Dallas approaches Nome and our red lantern moves from UNA to KTG, our field has a spread of 310 miles!

With 32 active mushers still racing, our scratch tally has grown to six.  I reported previously on Erin, Connor, and Isaac.  Late Sunday, March 9th, in the checkpoint of Nulato, veteran Deke Naaktgeboran also opted to scratch.  He had 10 dogs in harness, all reported in good health.  After that was long time Iditarod veteran Aaron Burmeister, who scratched in Unalakleet just after 10pm Monday night.  He had 11 dogs in harness, also all reported in good health.  Finally, we had Hunter Keefe, our 3rd veteran to scratch.  He scratched before midnight on Monday, also in UNA.

Erin, Aaron, and Connor were all interviewed by the Iditarod Insider about their decision to scratch, and the videos were interesting.  Poor Erin had a heckuva time out there, losing her sleeping bag, crashing her sled at least 3 times, and reuniting with her sleeping bag again (a mandatory piece of gear).  The cold was definitely a factor.  Connor had some similar things to say with respect to some lingering injuries to his dogs (namely sore wrists) and the impact of the cold temps. 

But if you’re going to only watch one video about a musher scratching, watch Aaron Burmeister’s.  This year is his 22nd time running the Iditarod, and he finished every one - eight of them with a top 10 finish.  But this year?  Things just weren’t jiving.  His dogs were eating, drinking, pulling.  They had energy.  But they were “flat”.  They didn’t have the attitude, they weren’t having fun.  He could have muscled through.  But should he?  He didn’t think so, and I think he made the right choice.  He said it wasn’t about him. His pride.  It was about the dogs.  Something was missing, and he wasn’t going to find it traveling further down the trail.  So he called a Simone.  As in Simone Biles.  And I say that with a great deal of respect, no italics or implied sarcasm.  Mental health is health.

Now I must report further on the two dog fatalities I am aware of this year.  Rookie Isaac Teaford had a dog named Bog collapse just outside of the checkpoint of Nulato.  A veterinarian was able to get to the dog quickly and CPR was performed, but Bog did not survive.  A necropsy (dog autopsy) was performed but no further determinations as to cause of death were made, per the press release.  Additional investigation will continue.

The second dog was on Hunter Keefe’s team and was named George.  This dog allegedly collapsed on the trail between Kaltag and Unalakleet and unfortunately attempts to revive him were unsuccessful.  A necropsy is also pending to further identify his cause of death.

Pursuant to Iditarod rules, both mushers scratched from the race immediately thereafter.

That is the extent of my knowledge.  But my heart is heavy and I am sad.  For Bog and George.  For their respective mushers who, if they are anything like my sisters, love their dogs and would never in a million years want to see them come to serious harm.  It’s gravely unfortunate for the Iditarod as an event and distance mushing as a sport.

I know these dogs love doing what they do.  I know the mushers love their dogs.  I’ve also had reality smack me in the face a time or two and remind me that no amount of love negates the forces of risk and reward.  And no matter how hard you work to limit the risk, or your willingness to sacrifice any reward, risk remains, and it can find you.  All I can hope is that a cause of death for these two dogs is identified and steps can be taken to limit the chance it happens in the future.

My heart goes out to George and Bog, and I know they’re running free on trails over the rainbow bridge.

That was a heavy post, I know.  Both length and content!  But the race goes on, a winner is imminent, and Anna is still on the trail.  I’ll be back tomorrow with more on our first finishers into Nome and an update on Anna’s progress.

Seeing Double Iditarod 2024 Playlist…
Song 11: Beautiful Day by U2.
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Anna and her dogs were reported out of Galena (race mike 545) at 10:20pm Saturday night.  She pulled out with her 10-dog team after a little more than 5 hours of rest within checkpoint.
Six hours, twenty-one minutes and thirty-seven miles later, Anna arrived in Nulato (race mile 582) at 5:41am early Sunday morning.  She remained in 24th place.

I got a couple of quick texts before Anna left Nulato, and overall things seemed good.  She did report that she saw the thermometer strapped to the side of her sled hit 44F below zero overnight on the trail.  I can only imagine what the temp felt like with windchill - both from any wind plus the breeze Anna experiences from traveling on average 6-10 miles on hour on the back of her sled.

Anna spent just shy of 7 hours resting herself and her dogs in Nulato before pulling her snow hook at 12:39pm Alaska time Sunday afternoon.  She was reported out in 24th and still traveling with 10 pups.

The team traveled the 47 miles from Nulato to Kaltag over the course of the afternoon, arriving in KTG (race mile 629) around 5pm Sunday, now in 23rd place.  Anna had texted earlier that if the dogs were traveling along really nicely, she might just resupply in KTG and hit the trail again.  But, as I write this, she has stayed about two hours now, so I expect her to stay a full 4 to 5 hours. 

Expect to also see Anna and the dogs stop for a camp along the trail between Kaltag and Unalakleet (race mile 714).  Tripod Cabin, an Alaska Bureau of Land Management (BLM) cabin, is a popular spot for mushers to stop during the long, 85 mile stretch between KTG and UNA (the longest stretch between two checkpoints in this year's race).  Anna may well stop there.

We did see the first competitors scratch from the 52nd Iditarod.  And it is pretty much unheard of for the first musher to scratch this far into the race.  Rookie Erin Altemus chose to end her race Sunday morning, March 10th, in the checkpoint of Ruby (race mile 495).  She had 10 dogs in harness that were all reported in good health.  Nearly 7 full days and nearly 500 miles is something to be proud of.  Not to mentioned qualifying for the Iditarod in the first place!  On behalf of Seeing Double, this Mad Blogger wishes Erin and her pups safe and swift travels back to their home kennel in Grand Marais, Minnesota.

Next was Isaac Teaford from Salt Lake City, Utah.  He scratched in Nulato (race mile 582) Sunday afternoon with 12 dogs in harness.  The third musher to scratch was also a rookie.  Connor McMahon, from Yukon Territory, Canada, scratched in Galena (race mile 545) a bit later Sunday afternoon. He had 11 dogs in harness that were all reported in good health.

Seeing Double wishes Connor, Isaac, and all their dogs safe and swift travels back to their home kennels.  They may not have finished, but I hope they're proud of all the miles they did cover during Iditarod 52.

That leaves us with 35 mushers racing on the trail to Nome.  Dallas was the first musher out of Unalakleet, beginning the daunting final quarter of the Iditarod trail along the Bering Sea coast.  After 7 days and 5 hours, GPS has Dallas at mile 740 on the way to Shaktoolik across the sea ice.  Jessie Holmes, Matt Hall, and Travis Beals are also out of UNA and chasing him.  The back of the pack consists of two rookies still resting in Galena ~ Bryce and Joshua.  

Our field now has a spread of 195 miles.

Seeing Double Iditarod 2024 Playlist…
Song 10: Country Roads by The Black Tartan Clan.

I asked the twins for any suggestions for my playlist this year.  They said they have some old music devices they still use that came with some preloaded songs - one of which has some bagpipes playing.  I couldn't remember the exact song, but the one I chose fits the bill.  Alaska trails, take 'em on home...

Anna and her dogs pulled into Galena (race mile 545) a little after 5pm on Saturday, March 9th.  She was reported in 24th place, a position she has been holding steadily for a while now.

She did pull into Ruby overnight Friday into Saturday - 2:30am on Saturday, to be precise.  She and the dogs had spent 15 hours on the 70 miles of trail from Cripple to Ruby, part running, part resting.  I’m sure a touch of civilization was a welcome sight.  Ruby is also the first checkpoint on the Yukon River, so the fact that she opted to declare and take the 8 hour mandatory rest required at a checkpoint along the Yukon here makes sense.

Anna hit the trail out of Ruby at 10:39am Saturday and spent the rest of the morning and afternoon mushing the 50 miles to Galena, arriving six and a half hours later just after 5pm.  I suspect she will rest in checkpoint for at least four hours, but I wouldn’t be surprised (nor concerned) to see that rest extend to five hours or a bit more.

Kristy did speak with Anna not long after she got into Galena, and reported that Anna seemed in good spirits and said the dogs are doing incredible.  I got a brief text from Anna as well.  But despite the temptation, I didn’t hit her with a barrage of questions.  Just a lot of love and support!

Kristy also told me that all six of the dogs Anna returned home, are now, in fact, home!  Anvik joined Zwickel, and then Fog, Maverick, and Albert landed in Anchorage where Kristy picked them up.  Rocky was at the kennel for a bit, but as he was on loan from the Redingtons, he’s already back with his home pack.   All of the returned racers are eating really well and displaying no ill effects of the many miles they travelled.

And just to review Anna’s dog team now, that leaves the 10 canine athletes in front of her sled as:  Diego, Shoshanna, Ruckus, Mayhem, Astro, Platinum, Havoc, Rampage, Trout, and Elmer.

Speaking of the dogs, check out the cute article from Alaska Public Media… a feature on Mayhem!  She really is the sweetest dog, and a major asset on Anna’s team.  She was in lead at the restart and I know has been leading Anna a lot over these last 545 miles.  She’s really showing her Iditarod veteran chops out there.

As Anna and her dogs rest in Galena, Travis Beals is gobbling up trail.  He is the only musher as of this post to hit the trail out of Kaltag (race mile 629).  It’s not quite 9pm in Alaska on Saturday night, and GPS has him at mile 642.  Five other mushers are reported into Kaltag - Jessie Holmes, Paige Drobny, Matt Hall, Ryan Redington, and Dallas Seavey.  Travis was mushing a 10-dog team when he left Kaltag, and the rest of the top ten last had 11 to 15-dog teams.  Every musher has completed their 24 and all but 11 have checked off their 8 hour along the Yukon.

Which makes sense as those 11 are the back of the pack and only just out of or into Ruby.  They’ll satisfy their 8s soon.  The very back of the pack includes rookies Bryce Mumford and Joshua Robbins, who are both closing in on Cripple.  Which gives our field a current lead-lag spread of 159 miles.

The cold is starting to really ramp up out there.  One article reported a windchill of nearly 40 below in Galena Saturday morning, and one app this Mad Blogger consults has Galena at -7F now with clear skies and 7mph wind.  Which doesn’t sound so bad until I scroll over and see -21F forecast for Sunday morning.

​Anna and the other mushers will have a cold night out on the trail.

Seeing Double Iditarod 2024 Playlist…
Song 9: Down By the River by Milky Chance.
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Some people are early birds and some people are night owls. Iditarod mushers, despite any other natural inclinations, seem to have this uncanny ability to be both.

Since the race started Sunday afternoon, these 38 individuals have basically been going non-stop.  Yes, they stop along the trail - in checkpoints or between them - to feed and rest their dogs.  And yes, nearly every musher by this point has taken a 24-hour mandatory rest and will have two more mandatory 8-hour rests before they reach Nome.  Most teams will spend about as much time resting as they do moving, in addition to the stops mandated by the race.

But don’t think for a moment running a dog team is like riding a snow machine.  You don’t just park and turn it off.  When a musher stops in a checkpoint or for a trailside camp, there’s plenty of work to be done.  Straw beds are laid out for the dogs.  If no hot water is available, cold water is heated or snow is melted to make a warm stew meal for the dogs.  Booties are removed, paws checked and ointments applied as needed.  Shoulder muscles are rubbed and wrists are checked for any signs of soreness. The dogs might get fleece blankets for colder or longer campouts.  If the musher is carrying a vacuum sealed bag of food for themselves, that might get tossed into any remaining hot water after feeding the dogs to warm it up a bit.  Otherwise?  Trail mix and frozen jerky.

A four hour campout might allow a musher to get an hour of sleep themselves.  Likely less.  And trailside rests are on the ground, maybe with a sleeping mat, in arctic sleeping bags.  Mushers do catch up on a fair amount of rest during their 24s, but it’s nothing like the solid 8 hours most of us are told to strive for at night.  Mushers eat, nap, and then check on their dogs.  Feed them, massage, maybe take them for a short leash walk to keep everyone limbered up.  Rinse, repeat.  Time’s up?  Hit the trail.

Some folks have an aversion, or even a downright fear, of the dark.  Let alone the kind of dark you experience when you’re thousands of miles from street lights, in the middle of the Alaska wilderness, in the beginning phase of a New Moon.  These mushers are out on the trail around the clock and frequently traveling overnight.  In fact, I suspect they don’t even think of it as “night”, but more like the headlamp half of the day.

As you, dear reader, head into your weekend, I hope that helps give you a better sense of what Anna is doing out there.

We last left Anna as she hit the trail out of Ophir (race mile 352) early Thursday afternoon. She mushed part way to Cripple, stopped for a campout overnight, and finally arrived in CPL fourteen and a half hours later at 7:15am in 24th place.  She remained in checkpoint for 4 hours 16 minutes before hitting the trail again with 10 dogs at 11:31am Friday.  She mushed about 30 miles and then stopped for a trailside camp.   

It’s a little after 8:15pm in Alaska as I write this, and she has wrapped up her camp and is on the move again.  She will arrive in the next checkpoint Ruby (race mile 495) overnight.  And it is full dark thirty out on the trail.  There’s one team about 6 miles behind her and another about 4 miles ahead.  But if you’ve ever walked a mile (in your shoes or someone else’s), you know how far that is.  You won’t hear anyone or see anyone.  It’s just Anna.  And her dogs.  And an immense wilderness.

We’re over 5 days into this year’s race and all 38 mushers are still traveling through that wilderness.  Travis Beals and Matt Hall are at the front of the pack, having arrived in Galena (race mile 545) early Friday afternoon.  GPS shows Dallas will be joining them in GAL shortly.  The rest of the top 10 are all out of Ruby pushing towards Galena.  Groups of mushers traveling in closer proximity dot the trail all the way back to Cripple, where our current red lantern (or last place musher) Bryce Mumford is nearly arriving.  This gives our overall field a total spread of about 123 miles.

I don’t think Anna or any of the front runners have hit the “special weather” that is forecast, but they will soon.  As it is, temps are still around 0F and there’s at least a modest breeze.  All I can hope is they’re all well prepared and well acclimated by this point.  Trail conditions sound decent in and around Galena, with a solid base of snow but some loose stuff churned up by snow machines.

​Mushers begin traveling the mighty Yukon River after Ruby, mostly long, flat stretches along or over the frozen river.  That might seem like a welcome reprieve from the challenges earlier in the race, but in reality it is not.  Boredom is a poor friend to sleep deprivation.  I hope everyone on the trail has some good music or an enthralling audio book to listen to as they mush along.
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Seeing Double Iditarod 2024 Playlist…
Song 8: When the Night Feels My Song by Bedouin Soundclash.   

Anna wrapped up her 24 and pulled out of the Ophir checkpoint (race mile 352) at 4:42pm Alaska time Thursday afternoon.  She was reported out in 22nd place with 10 dogs in front of her sled.  She only stayed 2 minutes more than strictly required by race rules, and I always take it as a good sign that she and her team were raring to hit the trail once again.

I did get a couple of texts from Anna while she was 24'ing.  She's doing ok out there, but has admittedly shifted from racing mode to traveling mode.  She returned more dogs early in the race than she would have liked, and I know it is weighing on her to have another 623 miles to travel after leaving Ophir.  If something happens out there, be it a moose encounter or her dog team picking up a stomach bug, a 10-dog team such as hers leaves less wiggle room to return a dog home but continue traveling ahead safely with the remaining dogs.

This Mad Blogger still has complete faith that she'll make it to Nome, just maybe not in the finishing position she had hoped to achieve.

But that's how things go, right?  Not every adventure is a magic carpet ride.  The key is to be smart and persevere.  When circumstances change, we must change.  We play the cards we're dealt.

Anna has adjusted her race strategy on the fly to include more rest for her remaining dogs.  Rather than run 50-ish miles between camps, look for her to run 38 miles out of Ophir, camp trailside to give the dogs a good meal and a nap, and then run the remaining 38 miles or so to Cripple (race mile 425).  Then she'll give the team a good rest again.  The 73 miles between OPH and CPL is the 3rd longest stretch between any checkpoint in the race, and she doesn't want to overtax her team.  After that, probably still slightly shorter runs and longer rests.  She's taking it one run/rest at a time.

The reason she's taking things one step at a time and not looking too far ahead is likely two fold... If you look too far ahead in an ultra marathon like this, the remaining mileage can just feel too overwhelming.  It's like being handed an entire Takotna pie and being told you must consume it all in one sitting.  After eating two pieces, you would likely feel pretty full, and starring down at all the pie you still had left to eat would just be too much.  You might well just drop the fork right there.  Instead, imagine eating your pie once piece at a time.  Start with one piece, then have another.  Then another.  Pretty soon you've eaten half the pie, and then three quarters.  Before you know it, you're shaking the final crumbs in your mouth and playing frisbee with the pie tin.  

The other reason she's taking things one step at a time is to avoid thinking too much about the forecast.  And when Alaska issues a Special Weather Statement, y'all better pay attention.  'Cuz it's no joke.  There is nothing at all funny about the conditions predicted by the National Weather Service for the days ahead.  Anna sent me a screen shot of the forecast she was referencing, and I nearly fell out of my chair.  And I'm a Wisconsin girl, no stranger to winter weather and cold temps.  Read for yourself below, and then read it again when you can't believe your own eyes.  It's gonna get awfully cold out there.

And, as of this writing, we still have all 38 teams out there on the trail who will face what Mother Nature is handing out.  Nic Petit was the first musher to pull out of Cripple (race mile 425) late morning Thursday.  GPS tracking still has him in the lead and closing in on Ruby.  The next closest mushers, including Travis Beals, Jessie Holmes, and Paige Drobny, were 30 or more miles behind Nic.  But - and this is a big but - they're all done with their 24s.  Nic hasn't taken his yet.  When he finally does, these rested and racing teams will fly on by.  But when Nic hits the trail after his 24, will he be doing so with a better rested, faster moving team for the race that remains?  Or will it be too little, too late?  We shall see.  Valid questions to which I have vague speculation but no answers.

What I do have an answer to, and it has been a popular question, is which dogs Anna returned home and how they're doing.  I reported earlier that Anna returned Rocky and Zwickel from Rainy Pass, and they have since made it all the way back to the kennel in Knik.  Kristy said they are doing great and she isn't seeing any signs of the shoulder soreness that prompted Anna to return them.  Anvik, the youngster she returned from Rohn after experiencing some anxiety on glare ice, should be back to the kennel any minute.  Which brings me to the three dogs she returned from McGrath:  Maverick, Albert, and Fog. 

When Anna (or Kristy) is mushing a dog team, they always keep a close eye on each dog's gait.  Is a trotter suddenly loping?  Is a normally straight-running dog starting to side angle?  These are often the earliest clues the twins will get that a problem is brewing.  And that is what Anna saw in both Maverick and Albert.  Subtle gait changes that were out of character for these two pups.  I don't believe either she or the vets she consulted found any obvious cause, but Anna knows these dogs almost as well as she knows her twin.  And sustained gait abnormalities is enough for Anna to say, "sorry, pupsters, but here's your plane ticket home."  Fog's situation was not too dissimilar.  Anna will massage the dogs in each checkpoint and check them for signs of soreness.  Fog indicated one of her shoulders wasn't feeling right, and when Anna couldn't work it out sufficiently with rest, massage, and heat, it meant it was time to hand Fog a return plane ticket, too.

As the remaining dogs in transit get back to the Seeing Double kennel, I'll pass along any further updates that I get from Kristy.  

The lead-lag spread in this year's field has widened out to 164 miles.  We've had one massive moose speed bump.  24s are about done for all teams.  Brutally cold weather is moving in.  And we're not even four and a half days into the race yet.  What next?! 

Seeing Double Iditarod 2024 Playlist…
Song 7: On The Road Again by Willie Nelson.