Stop and think about all the things you've done in the last seven, nearly eight, days. The meals you ate, hours you slept, showers you took. I suspect lots of you did some laundry, drove a car, watched something on tv. When you think back on it, your list of activities was probably very long, and very diverse.
The mushers making their way to Nome, however, have done one thing and one thing only in all that time. They have mushed. I will grant you, that primary task has its own list of subheadings. But in the end, it all boils down to: care for dogs, care for self, move forward. Rinse and repeat. No matter what you face - challenging terrain, gusting winds, broken gear - you deal with it in the context of those three main things.
After seven days and about eighteen hours of single-minded focus, it's pretty mindboggling what these women, men, and their dogs accomplish. Brent Sass and his dogs were already out of Elim by around 5:15am Monday morning. That's race mile 852!! When I last looked at the GPS, he and his 12-dog team were around mile 880 and closing in on White Mountain. He's got a 20 mile lead on Dallas Seavey, who was out of Elim running a 10-dog team a little more than 2 hours after Brent. All mushers have to take one final 8 hour mandatory rest in White Mountain before mushing the final 77 miles to Nome and the finish. Given all of that, I feel it is Brent's race to lose at this point. But this is the Iditarod, so anything can happen.
The next twelve teams were all reported out of Shaktoolik before 8:30am with another four teams out of Unalakleet and on the way to Shak. We had one further scratch from the race, Iditarod veteran Joshua McNeal of Fairbanks. He scratched in Galena with 10 dogs in harness and we wish he and his team safe and swift travels home. The Red Lantern is out of Ruby, and we have a total of 44 teams still active in the race.
Kristy and Anna arrived in Unalakleet (race mile 714) ranked in 20th (Anna) and 21st (Kristy) just before 5am Monday. They had arrived in Kaltag mid-day Sunday, stopped for only 18 minutes, and were off again. They did end up camping along the way at Tripod Shelter Cabin, sticking to their race plan. In all, it took a little over 17 hours to mush the 85 miles from the prior checkpoint.
I suspect the twins and their dogs will rest in Una for 5-6 hours over the remainder of Monday morning before heading out on the 40 miles to Shaktoolik. Aside from brief trailside stops, Seeing Double will likely only rest within checkpoints over the remainder of the race.
Forever thoughtful despite their exhaustion, I did get a couple texts from both Anna and Kristy after they cared for their dogs after arriving in Una but before settling down for a couple hours sleep themselves. Sounds like they had a really good rest at Tripod cabin along the way and the dogs were just amazing on the trail coming into Una which was plagued by tons of ice. That's about all I received for commentary, but then again, the pictures they sent kinda speak for themselves.
The mushers making their way to Nome, however, have done one thing and one thing only in all that time. They have mushed. I will grant you, that primary task has its own list of subheadings. But in the end, it all boils down to: care for dogs, care for self, move forward. Rinse and repeat. No matter what you face - challenging terrain, gusting winds, broken gear - you deal with it in the context of those three main things.
After seven days and about eighteen hours of single-minded focus, it's pretty mindboggling what these women, men, and their dogs accomplish. Brent Sass and his dogs were already out of Elim by around 5:15am Monday morning. That's race mile 852!! When I last looked at the GPS, he and his 12-dog team were around mile 880 and closing in on White Mountain. He's got a 20 mile lead on Dallas Seavey, who was out of Elim running a 10-dog team a little more than 2 hours after Brent. All mushers have to take one final 8 hour mandatory rest in White Mountain before mushing the final 77 miles to Nome and the finish. Given all of that, I feel it is Brent's race to lose at this point. But this is the Iditarod, so anything can happen.
The next twelve teams were all reported out of Shaktoolik before 8:30am with another four teams out of Unalakleet and on the way to Shak. We had one further scratch from the race, Iditarod veteran Joshua McNeal of Fairbanks. He scratched in Galena with 10 dogs in harness and we wish he and his team safe and swift travels home. The Red Lantern is out of Ruby, and we have a total of 44 teams still active in the race.
Kristy and Anna arrived in Unalakleet (race mile 714) ranked in 20th (Anna) and 21st (Kristy) just before 5am Monday. They had arrived in Kaltag mid-day Sunday, stopped for only 18 minutes, and were off again. They did end up camping along the way at Tripod Shelter Cabin, sticking to their race plan. In all, it took a little over 17 hours to mush the 85 miles from the prior checkpoint.
I suspect the twins and their dogs will rest in Una for 5-6 hours over the remainder of Monday morning before heading out on the 40 miles to Shaktoolik. Aside from brief trailside stops, Seeing Double will likely only rest within checkpoints over the remainder of the race.
Forever thoughtful despite their exhaustion, I did get a couple texts from both Anna and Kristy after they cared for their dogs after arriving in Una but before settling down for a couple hours sleep themselves. Sounds like they had a really good rest at Tripod cabin along the way and the dogs were just amazing on the trail coming into Una which was plagued by tons of ice. That's about all I received for commentary, but then again, the pictures they sent kinda speak for themselves.