Saturday, December 27, 2008

Chugiak 50 - Heat 2 (21 Dec 08)

We arrive at the track and get set up. Today we decided to water at the house and then load up and go to the track. This builds in a little time at home. The plan is to do the same thing as yesterday, but with 50 pounds vice the 35 pounds of weight in the sled.

We follow Christine, but the dogs aren’t going as fast as yesterday and 8 of the 13 have pooped in the first mile of the race. This slows us down and the junior musher catches us pretty quick. I see her approach and let her pass. Then Wayne caught us after 2 and half miles. Now that everyone is in front of us, we settle down and get into a nice pace. Much better than yesterday. Remember we are not sprinting and have a higher objective for this race.

As we drop onto Clunie Lake the layer of fog is pretty thick. This is great as your competitors can’t see you. The run is very enjoyable and the dogs are working well as a team. After about 19 miles, I noticed Alli is doing her best to keep up with the team, but having to work really hard at it. Then she slipped her collar. I stop the team and put her collar back on and off we go. I keep an eye on her and although she is running, she is still having to work a little harder to keep up with the team. She isn’t limping. I think about bagging her, but want to watch her for a little while. We drop onto Beach Lake for the last 2 and half miles of the race and Alli slips her collar again. Hmmm. She isn’t limping and is very cooperative when I put her collar back on. Off we go. We get back to the truck and I tell Mary what happened and that Alli should go home with her and not back out.

Once again we finished strong with a time of 2 hours and 48 minutes. Our total time was 5 hours and 45 minutes.

Realizing the dogs have run 75 miles in a 27 hour period, I decide to only go out for a 10 mile run. This way I can get Bogey out and run straight through.

Once Mary got home and was able to walk Alli, she stared to limp. Mary fed Alli and off to a crate so she wouldn’t further injure anything.

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