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I ran all night long and it was almost 5am when arrived at the Iditarod checkpoint - the official half way point.
I was happy to get off the sled for a while - my neck and shoulders where pretty sore from the beatings the trail gave me. The trail was tough pulling for the dogs, but in comparison to others, my team did very well.
Iditarod is not a very big check point, but I liked it there. It became routine: I fed my dogs, the vets checked the team and after everybody got their foot ointment I fed myself and crashed on a bunk bed for a short nap. |
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Iditarod making a mess as usual
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I rested almost 8 hours and half past noon I pulled out and headed towards Shageluk. I heard the trail could be tough running for the dogs. There is no snowmachine trail and therefore no base. The snow is punchy and slow. This section of the trail was probably me least favorite one although it lead through pretty country. Maybe it was just because I was tired of crappy trails. Nothing had been easy running for the dogs so far - every section seemed to have it's own challenges.
We ran up and down some hills - and on top of some of those hills it was blowing pretty good and of course, the wind had to come head on. I had Vanilla and Cruiser in lead - the two oldest, most experienced leaders and Vanilla is also the toughest one. Cruiser doesn't like wind very much, but Vanilla will run through a storm without hesitation.
I had problems getting into the village of Shageluk. I saw the village for quite a while, but couldn't make out any trail markers in the dark. So, I ran in zig zag through the village for several minutes, before I finally found the check point. It was 10pm now. It took us 9 1/2 hours to get here - that's less than 7 mph for this 65 mile leg.
I was supposed to rest only 6 hours, but I decided to give my team a longer break. |
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