This weekend I was able to par take in one of our favorite races of the season. It was the 14h Annual Chemult Sled Dog Race. It’s has been a long time since I have been on a sled by myself so this was an event for me. When my parents made the offer for me to go with this year I was very excited. It was going to be my dad running in the 8 dog class, my  mom in the 4 dog, and I was going to borrow 4 dogs from a friend and run in the novice class.  Unfortunately, my mom had too much work do get done with the business and so I agreed to run her team for her since the entry fee had already been paid. Bad idea.

 Incase you’ve never heard the story, the last time I ran my mother’s 4 dog team I crashed and was drug behind the sled for about a mile. I know that these are different dogs and all but history seems to repeat itself.

The whole day was just stress for me. As every minute passed I felt the sinking feeling in my stomach get worse. About 20 minutes before my class started I was convince that I needed to go and vomit up blood. There were 12 teams total and I was going out 11th. As my dad brought me to the line the intense sick feeling became, if possible, even worse. Before I knew it I took one deep breath and it was count down, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, you’re off. We flew out of the chute. As we got past the spectators and further on the trail I started to loosen up a bit. This was not as scary as I remembered ( running the sled has never really been my forte) The trail was beautiful, hard and fast. I was good until I got to the curves. This trail is probably one of the most fun trails, for someone who is a bit more confident in their skills and team, not so much for me. I was way too worried about how fast I was going. I rode the break a lot and wasn’t concentrated on my dogs or where my hands, legs, and feet were. This resulted in Jessica falling off the sled and into the snow many times. I was doing good and I even passed a team but then fell over and it was all down hill from there. Rollo(my leader) kept looking at me like I was nuts.  When I came back in, I was covered in snow and sick again because I knew I had one more team to take out.

 I ended up using the old and crusty dogs of the friend of ours. I didn’t matter to me really at all. I loved these dogs and they wanted to run, they just weren’t very fast, at all. I took them out ( it was the same course) and I did a whole lot better. I was able to figure out my sled a little more and not be suck a wussy on the corners. It was the confidence builder I needed and came in with a big grin. I had a great time running the older dogs. After I made it back to the truck, Polly ( one of the many mothers I had growing up) came up to me and said there was blood on the side of my head, but I didn’t feel anything. She looked at it for me and it turned out I split my ear open. She told me it wasn’t bad so I was mildly concerned but went about my business, taking care of my team. As I walked around people kept coming up to me and asking if I was sure I was alright but I didn’t see what the fuss was about until I looked in the mirror. Turns out I had blood down the side of my head. That’s when it started to hurt. It really wasn’t bad at all just a little shocking to see.

 The second  day was much better. It had snowed quite a bit before and during my class which made the trail a little slower and easier for me to navigate. I didn’t fall at all though which was a big relief. I finished 10th out of 12 in 4 dog which was good because I was NOT last and I finished 1st out of 2 in novice.

 All in all it was a fun weekend. I got to see people I haven’t seen in ages and got to race again.  The worst part about it is that I know when I was younger I’d fall a lot too but I don’t ever remember it hurting this bad. My muscles feel like they’ve been hit by a large truck. Anyway, here are some pictures for your enjoyment.

Mom’s 4 Dog Team 

My Novice Team