Well, tomorrow is the weekend! I'm actually not running Saturday so I'll get a day off...haha! Actually, we may do some trail work. I'll need to be moving up to some 30's and 40's with the yearlings so the best way to learn the trail is by snowmobile (so I know what to expect). After the 40's I'll get to do some camping...finally.
For the race team they'll get their long (180 mile) camping trip/run in this week before Christmas.
This week was filled with long days, Aaron was out of town and Scott ran one of the two race teams daily on runs that were 8-9 hours long - ending with a 75 mile run for each team. The dogs look great, but there were a few injuries that will have the weekend to heal up.
My runs were 3 hours (at least) for 25 miles. The wind blew in the trail daily, so poor Scott often had to break it out on the way out and the way in - while we had his trail to follow (usually) on the way out. It's good for the dogs, though, because you might see these tough conditions in a race.
Speaking of races...the racing season has officially begun up here! The Alaskan Excursion race, put on by Ryan Redington, is this weekend and it will be Leila's first race. I wish her well!
Down in the lower 48 is the West Yellowstone race, I'm missing it this year - last year was my first year there and I had a blast. I hope it is a success for everyone.
With Leila and Bill gone, I volunteered to take care of the 30+ dogs they left behind. So, tonight I fed over 80 dogs - all our dogs (Scott went Christmas shopping in town this evening) and Bill's. I think it took me an hour to do them all...
Due to truck issues on the way to the Alaskan Excursion, Buddy Streeper, his wife, child and handler stopped by - but it was only for a quick meal and I was out feeding the dogs while they were here so only got to say a quick hi before they took off. It sounds like they'll be back here on Monday, so that should be interesting. (For those non-mushers, the Streeper's are a sprint and stage stop team that is ranked #1 in the world! One of Aaron's dogs, Java, is from them.)
In other news, I'm going to be published (again) in the CKC magazine. It's always a pleasure to write for CKC, who has been such an awesome sponsor these past years. I can't wait to see the article - it's on Alaskan Huskys.
Oh, and today my team passed a test: Aaron ran them. As I hooked up and watched them leave the yard it was rather hard. I mean, I know how they each run and their preferences and this was Aaron's first time with them - I couldn't help being a little worried! He said they looked good, which was exactly what I'd hoped for.
I've also been reading a great book by C.S. Lewis (of course, aren't all his books awesome?): That Hideous Strength. Not my typical genre (kind of modern sci-fi, but with a British twist), but it has been a lot of fun...can't wait to finish it!
The book I read before THS was Economics in One Lesson by Henry Haszlit. A great, practical book. I discovered that economics is just plain common sense...or you could say that the economics principles that work could be summed up by saying: "Capitalism with compassion."
But I won't bore you with one economics lesson...for now! Next post I'll have another story for you...
No comments:
Post a Comment