SNOW!!!!

Incredible. Exhilarating. Exhausting.

I finally got on a sled this weekend. Actually, I got on Bill Wehseler's training sled Thursday. Bill and Rita Wehseler run Stony Creek Sled Dogs, which offers sled dog rides in the gorgeous north woods along Lake Superior in northern Minnesota.

Rita is the expert musher who has made it possible for me to train with 5 veteran sled dogs (Penya, Colt, Elias, Lids, and Greyling). Last Wednesday, Randy and I went up to Schroeder, MN, where my mentor Claire Seekins has a cabin and where Rita and Bill operate their kennel.

I had planned to spend the week training there in preparation for my first race Jan 7. But Mother Nature had plans of her own: We haven't had enough snow to actually get on sleds and my poor hubby has been sick as a, hmmmm, really sick guy. He's had a serious Man Cold and has had to do a whole lot of resting.

Randy and Ginsberg crash at Claire's cabin

But Wednesday, we made the trek up north and, lo and behold, it snowed! And Rita and Bill lent me a sled and, oh my gosh, I have SO much to say and, as usual, not enough time to say it.

In short, I blissed out on snowy trails - and got seriously schooled by my pups on the amazing trail used for the John Beargrease race.

But for now, I'll let this little video tell part of the story. In a word, it was divine!

Happy New Years!!!

Beautiful break of day in the North Woods of Minnesota - Deember 31, 2011

What THREE BLUE EYES taught me today

"DON'T LEAVE US BEHIND!!!"

These days, it feels lately like I'm meeting myself coming and going. 

I'm definitely coming to understand my limitations. Especially around time. Training in the middle of the week is intense. I'm up, driving, hooking up 6 fast sled dogs, running the 4-wheeler in sub-freezing temps, unhooking them, giving them water, hauling buckets of their "stew" around and feeding them, scooping up their living spaces, making tomorrow's stew, and driving 75 minutes back to Minneapolis -- all before I start my regular work day.

It's humbling how tired this routine makes a person. By early evening, I'm pretty well spent. But do I get myself to bed? Er, um, well, there's this GREAT book series I'm reading (The Hunger Games), so, well, I guess the answer is clear enough. I've been under the weather more this fall than is typical for me. And I know I need to take better care of myself and get more rest.

And hence, the less-frequent blog posts.

But, my pups taught me a thing or two today, and I wanted to make sure I recorded it. 

The trail we run has several hills, not big huge ones, but hills nonetheless. One has been particularly challenging for the team. And I though I try to be a tough gal and make them work up that hill, usually I cave and give the 4-wheeler a little gas to help them out.

But not today.

I gave myself a stern talking-to this morning on the drive north and committed to helping the pups get in shape to do at least one serious hill (during CopperDog 35 in March) without help from me. So up up up we went on our training hill, and they gradually slowed down to a complete stop some 30 yards from the top of the hill.

I told them to "get up" but they merely peered over their shoulders at me with a look like, "What, you're gonna be lazy and not help us out."

Yep, that's exactly what I'm going to do.

And as it turns out, I had completely underestimated their abilities. Within two seconds, myshygirl Greyling was doing her levitating act, and next to her, sweetness Elias, was screaming at the top of her canine lungs to get moving. Yep, honest to goodness cheerleaders.

And guess what happened? Bigboy Colt seemed to remember his strength and pulled hard, along with gotogirl Penya, and before you know, we crested that hill! All on pure canine power (and thanks to some genuine restraint on my part). I just felt so proud I could have popped!

It was a little tool chilly to take off my gloves so my bare fingers could make contact with the iPhone screen. But yesterday I managed to catch a few priceless moments.

Hope you enjoy them here in this short video:

Please pass the 'jumping beans'

Last Saturday, THREE BLUE EYES practiced the fine art of passing another team (and being passed by a team).

Wooooo doggggies! That is one challenging maneuver to learn. The goal is for the dogs not to interact at all. We had more than few rough starts. (Mainly rookie driver errors -- I kept giving the command "on by" WAY too soon) Thank goodness Randy came along and shot video. I've been studying it a lot (and cringing at my shrill, overly loud and obnoxious commands, which you will NOT hear in the video below-ha!). I keep practicing different ways of giving commands while I'm in the car all alone, but nothing is sounding right yet. Any and all tips welcome!)

So, here's a little video of some of our better moments of late. There's one sequence of the pups jumping that's so silly, I had to run it in slow motion so I could label the jumpers.

The team we're "chasing" and the team we're passing is Chris Johnson's awesome 10-dog team. Chris is such a trooper to work with me.

Things are going to get REAL interesting once we get some snow and I switch to a sled. Seems the more I learn, the more I find I still need to learn.

Will I be ready for my first race in January?

Stay tuned . . .

First race!

The deed is done!

I just registered for my first race!

Here's the info:

Voyaguers Classic Sled Dog Race
(Previously called White Oak Classic Sled Dog Race)
January 6-8, 2012
Recreation Class
22 miles | Northhome (MN) to Squaw Lake (MN)
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And even better news:
My pups are arriving Monday (September 12)!!!!
Many more pictures and stories to come.