The Journey Continues
November 12, 2007

When life gives you lemons… I’ve been reading and listening to all the distance mushers I can find. A common theme is that many folks shut their team down for 1 to 2 weeks before racing to allow all the little sub-clinical injuries to heal. It’s early in the season, but the first thing I did when we lost access to Fort Richardson was give the team a week off. Then we had to face reality. Our 20 mile loop on wide Fort Richardson dirt roads became a 5 mile loop on a narrow rutted Beach Lake trail. And all the people training for distance, sprint, and recreational goals were funneled down to share that one trail. I rearranged my schedule to trail in the afternoons, trying to miss the folks training over lunch and after work. The idea is to spread out the load as much as possible. Even so we are up to 35 mile runs, which means 7 trips around the loop, and that takes time. I keep looking for other places to train – this is a common problem when the runs get longer – but the weather isn’t cooperating. Willow has been icy and Jim Creek frozen grit (we tore feet up badly there one year). Snow is coming, but until the lakes, rivers, and swamps freeze it really doesn’t help.

The dogs are doing well. Basil continues to run strong, showing no after effects of her adventure. Frodo is finally settling in as long as I don’t throw anything new at him. Ginger has started the team howling at night and Mocha has decided that is fun and picks up where Ginger leaves off. The good news is I’m getting lots of practice resting with interrupted sleep – just like Iditarod ;-)

Ducat has started to run again. I kept giving him a chance every week and finally it worked. We had run 15 miles out of a planned 25 and I put him in the back of the team hoping to get some diagnostic video. He started like always, digging in and pulling hard with all 4 feet, after a minute he started to slow down, tongue and gums turning purple – just like before. Just before I stopped to video and load him again he seems to break through a barrier. His breathing eased, he backed off the hard driving pace just a little and settled in. His tongue and gums turned a normal pink and he ran the last 10 miles of the run. I was amazed. The next run he made 15 miles and looked strong at the end. Then he ran 12 and got tired so I loaded him, but it was normal out-of-condition tired, not the funny falling down stuff I’d seen earlier. His last run was 20 miles (out of 35 for the team) and he looked strong at the end. He has missed over a month of training and is the lowest miled dog on the team. I don’t know if he can recover and catch up with the team, but I will give him that chance.

At the end of the last run I was visiting with Jim Lanier and his son after feeding, but before loading the dogs. Lycos was in lead with Dash and back visiting Throttle and Rosemary in swing. I heard a little nasty talk and Lycos started to whine and bat at his right lip. He kept whimpering and pawing at the lip – that just isn’t Lycos. I brought him to the truck and he just didn’t look right. Finally I looked in his mouth and his right canine tooth was embedded into the inside of the lip all the way to the gum line. Evidently he put his nose where it shouldn’t be and somebody snapped at him, pulling his lip down. When it came up it caught the canine tooth, just like when you bite the inside of your mouth chewing. Man that must hurt. I tried to work it off by myself, but that was too much, even for Lycos. Luckily Jim was there and held his mouth still. Even with that it took both hands to work the lip off the tooth. Poor dog. I put him of Rymidal (doggie aspirin) and Amoxicillin. The next day the swelling was down and he ate like a starving sled dog.
Dijon is still struggling. We drew blood to check his thyroid and should have answers in two weeks. He is sharing the crate on the back of the 4-wheeler with Dukat. Dukat rides for the first 10 to 15 miles, and then Dijon rides for 5 to 10 miles and then runs the last 5 or 10. That way everyone is in harness at the end of the run and has the sense of finishing the job. Dijon did this last year and when we got his thyroid supplemented he stepped up to run Iditarod as his first race ever. I keep hoping to get him back.
For those that are keeping track the team has 810 miles in 56 hook-ups at this point and are eating 4 ½ cups of high test kibble and either ¾ lb of meat or fish or ¼ cup of fat / oil per day.

Tonight will be our first camping trip of the year. We will run 7 laps on the 5 mile trail – about 5 hours – come back to the truck and rest for 6 hours and then do the same run again. I hope to be on the trail by 3 PM, done with the first loop by 8PM, back on the trail at 2 AM and done by 7 AM. By 9 AM I should have everyone home and climb into bed for my nap. Mother always said no rest for the wicked – I don’t know what I did, but I sure hope I enjoyed it! ;-)

Keep ‘em Northbound
Eric
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