The past few weeks have been very eventful. I have a new hobby. I love cross country skiing. It all started a few weeks ago when I asked a friend to take me skijoring. I had never been before and she goes every weekend to give her dogs some exercise. She runs dogs and works every winter to take her dogs on a mushing trip to Salmon Lake.
Naturally my attempt at skijoring was terrible but so much fun! I had a lot of problems trying to stand up on my skis. The harness that went around my waste had a dog attached on my right hip, giving me a weird center of gravity. While on a pair of cross country skis, I had a teather attached to the dog and my harness. My problem came not only from the harness but my lack of skills with cross country skiing. I have skiied many times before but it was always downhill skiing on groomed paths. Skiijoring or even cross country skiing is about as far away from that as you can get! It was a great experience never the less. I have included a picture of my friend skiijoring with both both dogs because the dog was getting tired of me falling. Ever since then, I've been skiing to get the practice, its a good workout, and it's a lot of fun!
The city has been busy the past week with Iron Dog activities. KNOM has regular updates on the Iron Dog. We go on the air at 9am, 12pm, 5pm, and 10pm with updates. It is been a great experience so far. The first racers came in on Tuesday night. Laureli was reporting live from the half-way finish, Leah was on the board, and D was spotting the racers before they got to Nome. The next day was busy preparing for the banquet at the mini convention center. We also reported live on the red lantern team, a female team, who came in that night. Thursday was the best day of the Iron Dog. I was sent to the restart line to report on the teams who left. Eventful doesn't begin to describe the restart. We had 2 teams come back to Nome after they left for Fairbanks. The first team came back for potential mechanical reasons. The other team had one of the team members, break a leg about 13 miles outside of town. The part that still boggles my mind is the intensity of the entire trip. People ducktape their faces to prevent windburn. It is so cold that anyone would be out of their mind to be outside longer than 30 minutes. It was minus 8 degrees this afternoon, with a wind chill that might have lowered the temperature to about 20 below. I can't imagine how cold the interior is compared to here. Not to mention, it takes a lot of strength to be on a snowmachine for an extended period of time, fix a machine, and pull these machines over snowdrifts. I have a strong admiration for everyone who participates in Iron Dog.
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