Lisa and The Beasts

The Great Race is underway.

The official start of the Iditarod was moved north of Anchorage to Willow.
Jinx and I are pulling for Aliy Zirkle. She's been our favorite for a while but we are also happy to see any woman out there kicking snow boy butt. Dee Jonrowe is steadily moving up in the standing. Jessica Hendricks is moving along at a good clip. She was awarded the Rookie favorite of 2003.....actually I think was the first first rookie to cross the finish in Nome.

Being from Oregon I have to mention and pay tribute to Rachel Scdoris, a 20 year old Alfalfa, Oregon native. A small town girl with a dream to run this race. She has probably had to work harder than anyone to be allowed to race, she is blind, but she does not this as a disadvantage but rather just something that is. She requires a guide, she has previously run races with snowmachine guides but the Iditarod trail committee said "NO" and so they have compromised to allow her another musher to run in front of her and communicate to her by radio. Imagine the things one could encounter, a pissed moose, a low branch, hairpin turn, broken ice......by all means her dogs are her eyes, but she is navigating in territory unknown but a runner ahead of her should help. Some have complained this gives her an advantage but hello....she can't see 20 feet in front of her self, this means that her lead dog might only appear as a smudge, if even that.
I say "Go Rachel!!!" I hope she kicks butt too. Any finisher of this race is a winner. There are very few athletes that embark on The Last Great Race (shoot, I have to look that up......is the Yukon Quest called the last great race? or just the hardest? a little research is in order).

Good Luck all mushers and dogs on your way to Nome.


I should tell you that the other day when I was reading the paper I got really emotional about the race. But then again anytime I read about the race emotion just wells up. It is powerful, the whole race and the solitude of the north.

I have a passion for the north, not to mention that some of my family lives in Cordova, Alaska.

When I was in first grade we were asked to write a paper on what we wanted to be when we grew up. I wrote that I wanted to be an Eskimo and I wanted to eat whales. A second grader told me I would never be an Eskimo, that you are born an Eskimo. My first lesson on ethnicity. I was crushed.