Spring Fever= Mushing Fever

I love Spring for many reasons, but the thing about Spring that excites me the most...Iditarod.
The race is on, folks!  The Iditarod is of course, The last great race on the planet. This race is a truly Alaskan experience, and every year I get excited about seeing the dogs go crazy, and studying up on the mushers.  This sport requires top notch outdoor skills, as much knowledge about canines as a veternarian, as many tricks up your sleeve as the dog whisperer, and as many strategies as a chess player.

Why, might you ask would a lovely young lady such as myself care about dog mushing? Two words: Fantasy Iditarod. 

I have learned more about Dog mushing in the past 4 years than I have my entire life, and I grew up here!  The anticipation of the race, and the suspense of which mushers I will land drives me to study things most people could care less about.  As I see it, it's no different than NFL, NBA, NHL fans knowing the stats of their favorite players and teams.

I have even gone so far as to take a Beginning Dog Mushing course at UAA. I learned a lot about dog care, and the sport itself- but mainly, I learned that I FRIGGIN LOVE DOG MUSHING!
The course culminated with two field days in which we all got to run our own team of 4 dogs.  Sheer heaven!  I literally did not want to leave. (which is for sure the only time I've felt that way while being in Wasilla)

All of this knowledge really paid off last year when I finally won Fantasy Iditarod 2012!  Last year I studied hard, and drew a good draft number, so I landed Aliy Zirkle, Ramey Smyth, and Matt Failor. Zirkle took 2nd place, Smyth took 3rd, and as a rookie- Failor finished the race scoring me plenty of points to take the title!

This year I've taken a hugely risky approach in creating a team of two rookies, and my hopeful for the Red Lantern!  In our version of Fantasy Iditarod- rookies score you double points, and the Red Lantern (last place finisher) score you the same as the First Place finisher!

This year I've got Joar Ulsom (rookie out of Norway), Mikhail Telpin (rookie out of Russia), and Rudy Demoski, Sr. (veteran that ran in the 2nd Iditarod!)  Huge rewards require huge risks, so I am keeping my fingers crossed and watching the Iditarod.com update like a true addict!

http://iditarod.com/race/2013/standings/


 Unfortunately for my stage fright, but fortunately for memories- A KTVA reporter swung by our super fancy camp on the Yentna River and captured our enthusiasm!  That's me at the end-trying to enunciate...

http://www.ktva.com/home/outbound-xml-feeds/Iditarod-Fans-Cheer-on-Mushers-at-Yentna-Station-194932931.html?m=y&smobile=y