Houston, We Have a Problem...

Windy. Goggles? Check. Sanity? Lost in space. Serenity? Not now. Not this week. The wheels are falling off and we haven't made it to the start. Less than one week to go and we have sled breakdowns, heel breakdowns, mental breakdowns, gear missing, nozzles frozen, fingers freezing, knots untying, my ass is still freezing on runs, Dave walking, still no hole in my neck gaiter, my sled is flipping and a dog that suddenly won't stop barking. The 12 Days of Susitna. Fine tuning, huh? At least we're prepared for the apocalypse.

Sleds Part 2

So we trading in pulling sleds for driving them at the Willow Winter Carnival. We started off by playing snowshoe softball in the morning. Yikes, the snowshoes were like running around with two john boats on your feet. Then we ran home, loaded the dogs up in the back of the truck and headed back down for the Stampede race. Somehow, Tina talked me into the Leaddog competition (her powers or persuasion are impressive). Lo and behold, Agate took us to second place and out of 1st by only 4 seconds! Below, Agate and I with our 2nd place medal:

After a lot of gnashing of teeth, Dave was ready to partner up with me. I think he had some concerns about the dog hook-up stuff, but he was a pro. Our strategy worked like a charm. the secret? Only have 5 dogs at your house that can run. Takes less time to hook up and off you go. I know I said we were getting better at self portraits, but it was the first time this winter ANY of us were involved with a sledding endeavor, dogs included. So we were a bit off-kilter, excited, but a bit askew:

We took off in the lead, but were passed by an 8-dog team after some turning difficulties. Well, Willow and Cedar were having none of that. After 1/2 mile we took over the lead and never looked back. Here we are, coming toward the finish:

And our winning team, with our manager, Lil D:

My superstar dogs: Willow, Agate, Cedar, Chum and Ashy. Thanks, Bubs!

Three Months In....

...into sled-pulling, that is. Yvonne and Thomas stayed over after the 6+ hour sled slog. Sunday morning, four runners were spotted behind my house, sneaking out for...a run. Some would call it a "shake-out" run. Others would call it a " Yup, that DOES still hurt as much as yesterday" run. By now, one can guess who "Some" and "Others" are in this story. Lunatics. And they look happy:

It's obvious they have finally completed their transformation to the dark side. What kind of person are you on the dark side? Well, here are some examples:

1. the smell of your running clothes does not bother you anymore

2. a marathon sounds like a fun run

3. you possess more combinations of running clothing layers than you know what to do with

4. you have more than one camelback

5. you can hold your own during a gel comparison conversation

6. you don't use kleenexs

7. seat saver is on your weekly grocery list

8. you don't gain weight from a pint of Ben and Jerry's. Every night.

So it's been an interesting few weeks of running. me hacking up a lung for a few weeks, Dave unable to turn his neck, -20 degreee weather up to 35. We started a night run and it was wet heavy snow and a total slogfest:

Changed to rain and was still a slogfest, only with sopping wet clothes. And again the dogs happy to be free while Me and Jiggs keep each other company, handcuffed together:

And , yes, after 3 months of sled-pulling, Dave and I are still having fun together out there (and getting better at self-portrait positioning):

"If you gotta run, run from home..."

It's Official! We're....

idiots, actually. Crazy? Yup. Has the cold frozen some vital organs necessary for rational thought? Yes, I think so. For instance, if it is so cold that you need to wear a surgical mask that is scary to those around you, maybe you should stay inside and stoke the fire:

What is too cold?

This is too cold:

Now that the 4 week cold snap is over, insanity turns to......

The Chain Gang.

Veronica, Jane, Christine, Thomas, Yvonne, Dave and I headed out to the Sweet Cream Trail today. Below, Christine is breaking trail:

It was +20 (that's right, +), so we had a couple small stretches of overflow to posthole around.

A myriad of emotions- Dave "I Could Go 100 today" Johnston, Andrea "Jesus, Whose Idea Was This" Hambach and Veronica "This Is Nothing" Beagan (sp?):

It was a great 6+ hour run, and tons of fun to meet everyone, listen to Jane's singing and chow down on some good eats at the end. And despite my cough, stomach woes (I never have stomach problems!) and crap attitude for most of the run, I know I'm better for it. At least that's what my coach says. If nothing else, I ran with some friends and Dave proved once again how much he rocks, sticking with me even during excruciatingly long walk breaks, thus one of my few smiles of the day:

"You can say that I've lived here

in honor and danger.

But I'm just an animal and can not explain a life.

Down this chain of days I wish to stay among my people.

Relation now means nothing, having chosen so divine.

And if death should smell my breathing

as it passes beneath my window,

let it lead me trembling, trembling.

I own every bell that tolls me."

Thanks, Neko, for saying it just right.

Brrrr! Merry Christmas!

Christmas came today and with it a beautiful clear and of course cold day. It also brought wonderful friends and a realization that even with wonderful, thoughtful presents the most important thing is the love of the people around us. Yvonne beat Santa to our house by about 8 hours and settled in with Grandma Gimli to stay with us for a few days. After opening our gifts from Santa and each other, we went for a walk to catch the few minutes of sun above the horizon.

The three Musketeers, (me, Dave and Yvonne), back together again. I can't wait to go on a run together tomorrow. I might take Vonnie out for 5 hours (she says 4) while Dave gives his first run a try after "the fall".

My two Daves, in their new hats.

Cheating just a bit, as Dave and took this picture a couple weeks ago while on our first long training run, 5.5 hours. But it puts me in the holiday spirit and makes me thankful for everything in my life this year- love, health and a group of family and friends that anyone would be lucky to have.

And in case I don't get to an end of year post, I'll repeat Josh's sentiment that explains the general happenings of 2010:

"We are all half crazy

and all at least half alright."

Word.

Musings of a Sled Nerd

So Jiggs and I are getting to know each other. Jiggs being the Little Orange Sled That Could. Besides trying to jump the gun a bit on the downhills, he's the perfect little plastic partner to set me on my course to insanity, I mean serenity. The dogs are loving the role reversal game. Agate likes to run along side with Jiggs, scoping out the situation. She is very clear, though, on her feelings about pulling a sled: "Don't look at me, Dude. I've done my time on the chain gang. What part of retired don't you understand? And you call that a sled? That's a plastic little scoop with a 15# weight in it. Geez. Amateurs."

Sigh. No respect from the doglot.

Dave's been indulging me and taking me and Jiggs out. At night. In the wee frosty night. I think we've got the cold weather running thing down. Icebugs, check. Neck gaiter, check. Foot gaiters, check. Boyfriend that tolerates your mental lapses, check:

Jiggs has a new bumper sticker: "Will run for chocolate". We all have our vices....

"A man needs something he can hold on to

A nine pound hammer or a woman like you.

Either one of them things will do."

Thanks, Ray.

I swore I'd never do this.....

....running with a sled, that is. I distinctly remember running the Little Su 50K last year with Yvonne, looking at those fools, thinking, "those fools." Yup, now I'm one of those fools. Someone, you know who you are, convinced me that the Susitna 100-miler would be fun. So, here I am, signed up for Susitna, never having pulled a sled. Not to worry, Dave to the rescue. this weekend, we put our training sleds together and headed out on the trail, 6 inches of new snow on the ground. It wasn't long before Dave realized what he'd gotten into. "Where are we? And why are we in this handbasket?":

As Yvonne can attest to, running long distances in the snow with me as a running partner is not always easy, with my black cloud ready to arrive at any moment. But Dave swears he'll stuff me full of Reece's peanut butter cups and that's all it will take. Well, maybe a little more than that...

Running the Highland trail:

Notice there are no dogs around. They're way up ahead, laughing at their good fortune of free-running all winter while we pull the sleds. The two partners in crime. Still smiling- first run went off without a hitch. Well no major hitches, just some minors ones involving off-trail wanderings, thin ice and some healthy sled-kicking. Just working out the kinks.

Of course, my new friend, the little orange guy in the picture, needs a name. So if you see us out there, it's Me and Jiggs:

"Me and my friends in the park drinking beer underneath the tree

Lying on your back as the sun goes down, you know it's perfect 'cause you've got to leave.

On a Saturday night in a town like this I forget all my songs about trains

A bar with a jukebox you on my arm heaven and earth are pretty much the same.

And I'm not sure I can make you stay

Sun's going down it's the end of the day..."

Next up, finally a couple trip posts...

Later days....