Mush, Baby

Charity Begins at Home and Ends with a Training Epiphany

Posted on May 4, 2013 by mushbaby

It’s going to take me a while to get to the point today, but I promise you I will get there eventually if you just stick with me.

I almost never take my dogs on “normal” leash walks anymore. If circumstances prevent other kinds of exercise, I walk them in harness attached to my skijor belt. I always feel a little guilty calling this canicross, although technically that’s what it is, because I almost never run or jog while doing it. We mostly just walk, unless the dogs are so enthusiastic that I will get pulled onto my face if I don’t move a little faster. But honestly, one of my dirty little secrets of dog ownership and training is that I really don’t care if dogs pull on walks; I just don’t want them hurting themselves or me when they do it, so walking in harness is a perfect solution to keep my arms and their necks safe.

I discovered the world of double-ended leashes (aka service leads, aka police leads, aka European leads) a few years ago and I LOVE them for walking the dogs this way. The leashes have no handles; rather there is a snap on each end, a stationary O-ring in the middle, and a couple of floating O-rings along the length. This makes the leashes extremely versatile. By clipping one end to the various O-rings, you can do anything from making yourself a belt to walk hands-free to making a handle if you like to easily clipping the dog to a stationary object like a small tree without having the unclip the leash from their collar or harness to clipping one end to a harness and one to your skijor belt. I prefer this rather than my usual bungee Y-line for canicross because I can “reel in” one dog if need be without affecting the other, and if we get into a busy area I can go ahead and switch the clips to their necks and leash walk them for more control. The skijor belt has plenty of built-in bungee for walking, so the leashes don’t need any.

Here are a couple of pictures of the leashes. I got mine at Karma Collars, a lovely company that is a real pleasure to deal with. The total length is eight feet. There are also many other companies that make this style of leash, too. (Ella’s Lead, Paco Collars.)

In this picture, I’ve got the two leashes clipped opposite from each other so you can see that the stationary O-ring is slightly offset; Squash’s lead has the shorter segment attached directly to him and Maisy’s has the longer segment.

This picture makes it easier to see both the stationary and one of the floating O-rings.

Every year I participate in a charity walk for a local shelter called the Animal Humane Society (not at all associated with HSUS, just to head off any angry emails). I wanted to walk Squash in harness this year both because he’s so adorable that way and because… well, because everything I’ve said up until this point. But at the same time, this event draws a crowd so even though Squash is a very friendly and stranger dog-safe dog he is also a large dog who sometimes intimidates others with his size and, uh, zest for life. So I wanted the option to have some control over his head/collar, too.

Suddenly, in a flash of inspired experimentation, I realized that I had the perfect solution if I just clipped the stationary O-ring to my skijor belt. The leash is perfectly proportioned so that with the shorter section then clipped to his harness and the longer section to his collar, we can walk with all the tension still on the harness rather than his neck thanks to a little bit of slack in the longer section. At the same time, I had the option of grabbing onto the longer section and using it as a regular leash attached to his collar when I needed to.

This picture illustrates this setup in action; the yellow arrow is pointing to the skijor belt clip/quick release, which is attached to the stationary O-ring. You can’t see the leash clips because they are behind Squash’s butt.

Where space allowed, I unclipped the end from his collar and just canicrossed; depending on how much space we had I clipped either the short or long segment to the harness and just held on to the other segment instead of clipping it to anything at all.

Where space was tight, I could easily reel him in and keep him close.

And this totally-not-candid picture just demonstrates the whole thing without Squash’s butt in the way.

And now, after that lengthy prologue, I am finally pulling into the “here’s my point” station. Because as I was walking along feeling pleased with myself for finding yet another reason to love a leash I already love pretty hard, I had an internal monologue that went something like this:

Dangit, I really wish I’d had a setup like this for training ON BY on walks/canicross when Squash was younger, because some gentle collar tugs would probably have worked pretty well as an attention-getter for him to get him moving when he was tuning me out. Oh well…

*long pause*

Waaaaaaiiiit a minute.

*shorter pause*

I could… couldn’t I still… just… ??

*very short pause*

HOLY SHIT THIS WILL BE AN AWESOME SETUP FOR PRACTICING “ON BY” WITH SQUASH.

I put it to the test right then and there since there were approximately one million pee spots along our route where thousands of other charitable people were also walking and their charitable dogs were peeing. To be clear, I’m not a harsh corrections, collar pop, or “yank and crank” kind of person. But much like Maisy pulls him back on the trail with the neckline to enforce an ON BY, just a quick pull on Squash’s collar really did make a difference even in that super distracting environment.

When Maisy is with us I won’t need this setup because she IS the setup. I’m pretty sure she would go on by a magical portal leading THIS WAY TO EVERYTHING MAISY LOVES BEST IN THIS WORLD, and she keeps him on task. But ON BY when it’s just Squash and me has been something I’ve struggled with, so I have high hopes for integrating this into training.

One last note: I highly doubt I’m the first person in the world to think of this, so if you’re rolling your eyes at me right now I assure you that I’m not about to take credit for inventing it or slap my name on it. But it also isn’t something I’ve personally ever heard of or seen described before, so I wanted to share it since a large part of the point of this blog is to share things that work for me with other baby mushers. KNOWLEDGE IS POWER, even for mushbabies.

Also, please note that these leashes typically can be ordered to a specified length and mine are eight feet long total. I don’t know that shorter or longer leashes (or the same leash used with a larger or smaller dog) will be proportioned as perfectly, but I suspect not. Oh, happy dumb luck how you favor me. Any other mushbabies who want to try this will probably have to do some measuring. Or use two leashes. Or some other inspired idea – but I’m really only good for one per day.

Posted in Canicross, Equipment, Training | Leave a comment

April Skijors Bring…. something something.

Posted on April 28, 2013 by mushbaby

In the weeks following my last post, enough snow eventually melted to break out the scooter for a couple of runs. Although the dirt trails were still way too muddy for the scooter (deep, sucking, wheels-can’t-turn muddy rather than simply messy muddy, which I can deal with), the roads were clear. Since we were limited both in where we can go and how much running I want them to do on pavement, it was a good time to ease into dryland training with a bit of nice easy gee-haw practice in some perfectly convenient interconnected parking lots.

Maisy was particularly jolly; she tolerates skijoring but her heart belongs to the scooter.

And as usual, the patented Maisy bump helps keep Squash on track.

But just when it seemed that the skis would be relegated to the back porch until next year, spring in Minnesota reminded us that it is a capricious beast. And apparently in 2013 it went all out in hopes of winning some kind of Most Fickle Season award. Snowstorm after snowstorm had already happily extended the skijoring season past its natural expiration date, so when I was packing for our spring vacation up north I went ahead and threw the skis in the car even though I expected to mostly be scootering as a repeat of our fall mushing vacation, and Fickle Spring did not disappoint.

Upon our arrival, I was thrilled to learn that the lake we were staying on was still safely frozen with a good 6-8″ layer of snow remaining on top. However, warmish daytime temperatures and a mid-afternoon arrival made my first outing (attempted almost immediately after unpacking) a bit of a slushy debacle.

The next day, my enthusiasm undampened but slightly more cautious, I decided to go scout out some of the local trails without the skis at first. This is when I learned that overnight each night, the snow re-hardened enough to form a nice, solid surface to hike or ski on – but only if we got up early enough to beat the slush. By the time we finished this hike we were already falling through the softening snow, so we didn’t do any skiing but did get a lovely hike in. (I almost always “walk” the dogs in harness and with the skijor belt these days, which I suppose is technically canicross.)

We found a trail of moose tracks, although we did not see an actual moose. The tracks didn’t look fresh and we hike with a bear bell anyway, so I didn’t expect to (and in all truth would rather not see one under those circumstances), but it was cool to see the tracks.

The next few days we got up early and went skijoring on the lake while the snow was still hard, and it was glorious. Smooth, flat, FAST snow as far as the eye could see with zero distractions, and the dogs really cut loose. This is what skijoring would always be like if there were no trail-side objects to sniff and pee on.

By the end of the week, my husband and Pip has joined us. Pip reveled in his honorary Mush Puppy status, which mostly consisted of running ahead of us or following behind us.

Heading out:

I love how jolly everyone looks.

In the afternoons when the snow softened too much to ski on, we kept busy with canicross and scootering.

And then, at the end of the week… the tired Mush Puppies.

Given that it was in the 70s F when we got home today, I think it’s safe to say that this was really, really the last time we’ll be on the skis this season. So it will be all scooter and canicross for awhile, as it should be in a state with (usually) well defined seasons.

Posted in Canicross, Scootering, Skijoring, Vacations | Leave a comment

Sins of the Skijorer

Posted on March 22, 2013 by mushbaby

We’ve been able to sneak in some late-season runs this week, with today probably being the last of the season as we’re in the middle of a stretch of 35ish degree F days; the snow is melting, the trails are pretty icy, and it is March 22nd after all.

I usually skijor at a local state park. There are a number of multi-use trails and a number of skiing only trails. I am careful to stay on the multi-use trails, because the last thing I need is for skijoring to be banned there altogether because the other park users complain about how the skijorers are so rude; this park is very conveniently located close to my home and not very busy, so for the most part it’s like having my own private playground.

Today I apparently suffered a major map-reading malfunction and ended up on a ski-only trail I thought was a multi-use trail. And Murphy’s Law being what it is, despite never ever not even once all winter having encountered a park ranger while correctly using the multi-use trails I was stopped by a ranger on the ski-only trail. He was super nice about it, accepted my apology graciously, and pointed out to me where I should be… but I still felt like a kid with my hand in the candy jar. The one time… the ONE TIME I’m on the wrong trail. Woe.

Anyway, I’m mostly confessing to this sin to diffuse any unnecessary moral outrage in case anyone recognizes the trail in this video. Consider me pre-chastened, apologetic for the error of my ways and fully intending never to repeat my offense. But despite putting my shameful behavior out there for all the world to see, I really wanted to share it because for some reason it gives a much better idea of how speedy the dogs can be than the videos from more open areas. Also, I’ve been asked if I’m ALWAYS so dang cheerful and positive as some of the other videos make me appear… well, here’s my angry voice. I admit it’s still not a very ANGRY angry voice, but sometimes Squash does need a verbal kick in the pants to get his head in the game.

Obviously, the trail has seen better days. So even if I were allowed on it, I probably would have bailed. The multi-use trails weren’t much better, so I ended up just going back and forth practicing “come around” and “line out” in the relatively undisturbed snow across a trail-less area. It’s interesting to see how unsure they are when there’s no obvious trail in sight, but they get the hang of it.

We’ll probably be on a bit of a break from mushing for awhile, waiting for the trails to be in shape for scootering. Plus, Maisy nicked a paw on the ice today; just a tiny little cut, no big deal at all, but it means she will need some time off from pulling anyway. I may try some Squash-Pip canicross, depending on how treacherous the streets and sidewalks are around here as the snow melts.

In the meantime, enjoy this sub-par emergency response.

Posted in Skijoring, Training | Leave a comment

Laughter, the Best Medicine

Posted on March 19, 2013 by mushbaby

Just when it looked like winter was going to be over, we got some more snow yesterday. The roads were too much of a mess to go out for a run yesterday, so I planned to go today. Until I woke up to a -10F windchill.

So I let go of the idea of one final week’s worth of skijoring before spring and bundled up to go to a yoga class. But as I trudged out to the car I realized… now that the sun is out and the wind has died down, it doesn’t really feel THAT cold out here. Probably still too cold for Maisy with her princess paws and shorty coat, but probably ok for Squash the abominable snowman and his surprisingly thick coat and his little extra padding.

It’s just a few days before the official start of spring, that time of year when ski trail maintenance gets a little lax. I actually don’t mind; we use multi-use trails that get just a bit rolled down to make a level-ish surface but don’t have actual groomed ski tracks anyway (which I don’t even like when I’m skijoring). But it is a lot more work to ski through even a few inches of ungroomed snow and I also decided to ski our whole long 2-dog route today because Squash and I have both had cabin fever lately. So by the end we were both pretty tired and lagging badly.

That’s the point where this video begins. I had stopped for a rest; naturally Squash recovered before me and when he decided he was done resting he came back to say HI HI HI. Which made me laugh. For many reasons I’m not going to belabor, I’m convinced he sort of – on a dog-brain level of understanding – recognizes what laughter is. And my laughter put a bit of spring in his step. Which made me laugh some more. Which put a bit more spring in MY step. And we ended up finishing really strong.

Sometimes I wish my dogs, especially Squash, would be more serious when we’re mushing. But really, I hope he never stops being a little silly. I hope he never stops making me laugh. Partly because it’s fun. And partly because if he does, next time I’m this tired I might end up face down in the snow, exhausted, instead of laughing all the way home.

Posted in Skijoring, Squash, Successes | Leave a comment

Mind Like a Sieve

Posted on March 8, 2013 by mushbaby

I realized tonight that I forgot to post this. It’s spectator video from the Barkie Birkie. If you don’t want to watch the whole thing we are around 3:20 and around 11:40.

ALSO I neglected to say so when Squash got his third qualifying rally leg towards his RN (rally novice) a few weeks ago. So now he officially has only one fewer letter behind his name than I do. Clearly he is impressed by his ribbons.

Posted in Skijoring, Training | Leave a comment

Deep Snow and Dog Butts

Posted on March 6, 2013 by mushbaby

We got a dumpload of new snow Monday overnight. Tuesday saw school and business closings galore, but of course all I could see was fresh skijor and GoPro meat. We waited until the morning rush hour was over, at least, and the worst of the dire STAY OFF THE ROAD warnings had subsided on the morning news before heading out.

I only have a few things to say about this run. One, skijoring in 5-6″ of fresh, un-groomed snow is really hard work for both dogs and skier. It would have been a lot harder if a mysteriously intrepid skier had not arrived at some point before us and broken a trail as well as a trail can be broken by a single cross country skier in 5-6″ of fresh, un-groomed snow. We only went about 1/3 of our normal distance and we were all pretty tired by the end. Two, it was interesting to see the dogs naturally following what trail there was.

I did video the whole run and broken it up into several segments, then realized that even for me watching them all was pretty boring. But I did want to just demonstrate how deep the snow was and highlight a couple of things.

First, I’m not entirely sure how or when our COME AROUND ended up so smooth. A combination of me getting better at managing the line and the dogs learning what I wanted. TEAMWORK.

Second, there’s a nice “Maisy drag Squash back on the path” moment in this one. And then towards the end, I somewhat vainly tried to use a method of training called “premack” to help with Squash’s ON BY. There is a hollow tree off the trail at that point that Squash is absolutely obsessed with. On the way out he never fails to make a break for it, and if I allowed it I have no doubt he would stand half inside it and inhale its hollow tree-ish aroma for hours.

The idea of premack (as I understand it)is that you reward a dog for not doing the thing you didn’t want him to do by allowing him to do the thing you didn’t want him to do after he doesn’t do it. So in this case, after Squash successfully goes ON BY the hollow tree, I try to stop and allow him to go investigate it. In this case apparently he decided that peeing on some random tree was more rewarding than seeing the hollow tree again (he’d already visited it on the way out) but I think it still counts.

So yea. We’re going through a “warm and thawing during the day, then refreezing at night” phase, so I’m not sure how long the trails will be in any kind of condition to ski on, but I’m glad we got a chance to go out in really deep, fresh snow at least once this season. I suppose before long I’ll be GoPro-ing dog butts in front of a scooter instead of in front of skis, but you never know about March around here!

Posted in Skijoring | Leave a comment

Good Night, Pesky Straps

Posted on March 5, 2013 by mushbaby

Every once in awhile I peruse the list of search terms that bring people here to Mush, Baby! A lot of them make sense, and I’m actually quite glad to see things like how do I hook up my dog to a scooter or how to use pvc in bikejoring? Those ones make me feel like maybe some other mush baby might have actually learned something helpful here.

Several of them don’t immediately appear to make sense, but I can recreate the circuitous route that might bring i have a blackish bruise on my right side below my armpit and im not sure how i got it and their fellow bruise-related searchers here (my spectacular scooter injury-related bruise last year).

I think my favorite in the “was probably looking for porn” category is big strong hips. But poor current events about babies in april 2012. I’m sure this wasn’t what they were expecting at all.

And then there’s stuff like… alone. Or squirrel. On the whole wide internet, this blog came up high enough on a search for “squirrel” to earn a click? I figure that searcher must have had their SafeSearch set to 11.

In the “a bit mysterious” category, we find arrows pointing at a circle and mud sweatpants.

And finally, because of this list my husband has started calling me Pesky Straps. But I guess it’s better than A Free Baby Wheel or Leg Whip.

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Unknown search terms	50

Posted in Humor, Not Mushing | Leave a comment

Longing During a Period of Absence

Posted on March 3, 2013 by mushbaby

Partially because I am in a reflective mood tonight and partially because of the insomnia I am currently experiencing, I just re-read every single post I’ve written here from start to finish and realized that while I’m loving skijoring I also really miss scootering and canicross. Can there be such a thing as being homesick for the scooter? My dictionary informs me that homesickness is “experiencing a longing for one’s home during a period of absence from it.” So can I be… scootersick?

Whatever you want to call it, I’m actually quite pleased by this realization; it means that as the weather warms and the snow melts I won’t spend the off season feeling like it’s an “off” season at all. Rather than feeling like I’m killing time with a consolation prize, I have something to look forward to enjoying on its own merits. Not the off season at all – just scooter season instead of skijor season. And hopefully at the end of scooter season, no matter how much fun I’ve had I’ll realize I really miss skijoring and will look forward to enjoying it again on its own merits, too.

Posted in Scootering | Leave a comment

Unanticipated Incidents Not in the Script

Posted on March 2, 2013 by mushbaby

After my abysmally disappointing, unfocused attempts at getting race videos at the Loppet and Barkie Birkie, I broke down and bought a GoPro camera. I used it for the first time today, and it’s safe to say that I’m as much in love as it is possible to be in love with a tiny, inanimate object. Firstly, it is adorably wee. Secondly, it comes with an adorably wee protective casing and an overwhelming array of devices to mount it to nearly any body part or piece of equipment imaginable. Thirdly, it produces video like this:

There are many things about this video to love, not the least of which is that it makes me appear to be incredibly tall. Also it is in focus the whole time, which I am a fan of. The microphone is protected from the wind. And it actually looks like we are going fast.

Most of the videos I post, because they are edited to present certain things, make us look pretty smooth. Well, make the dogs look pretty smooth – I don’t really care if people see me fall. But it’s been awhile since I’ve posted bloopers, so in celebration of my new toy please enjoy our imperfections in all their glory. Don’t feel bad about laughing… the public embarrassment will help keep us humble.

Et tu, Maisy? Et tu? SHE’S THE GOOD ONE AT ON BY.

This is my annoyed voice.

Squash has a deer on the brain… the deer that casually strolled off into the horizon as we were getting ready to head out. I guess we WERE going that way and I just didn’t know it.

I think the title pretty much speaks for itself here.

Posted in Bloopers, Humor, Skijoring | Leave a comment

Barkie Birkie 2013

Posted on February 23, 2013 by mushbaby

A lot of people who grew up, have lived, or do live in the upper midwest are familiar with at least one facet of the American Birkebeiner or have at least heard the name. To the uninitiated, the Birkie is a well-established and well-respected cross country ski race weekend. (Read more here.) The main event is a 50K/54K marathon, but these days there are oodles of different race events including a skijor race: The Barkie Birkie, in its 3rd year as part of the Birkebeiner weekend, and our second skijor race ever.

After the Loppet, I realized that I needed to make sure I had some sort of eyewear for races. Goggles, sunglasses, whatever. A 3K race is a surprisingly different animal than a 3K practice run, and my eyes weren’t happy with going naked. So as part of my preparations for the next race was picking up not one, but two pair of sporty wrap-around sunglasses. Anyone who knows me well, and knows my past history with keeping track of sunglasses, knows why I picked up two pair. To wit: I immediately, that very afternoon, accidentally left one pair behind at a rally class. The second pair survived the rest of the week and the drive to the cabin where we stayed for the Barkie, then mysteriously disappeared somewhere in my bags on the morning of the race.

The reason I feel compelled to tell this sunglasses story is that because the Barkie Birkie is held on Friday, I found myself without a helper. It turns out that not all employers see the same value in giving employees a day off for a skijor race that mine does, and all my potential helpers had to work. I faced the daunting task of leaving the comforts of home and heading northeast to the comforts of a friend’s adorable cabin and then managing myself, my dog, and all our gear all alone. When I can’t even keep track of a pair of sunglasses by myself.

Anxiety and stubbornness are funny things, though. They ebb and flow, alternately yielding to each other sometimes seemingly at random. Maybe it was because I’d broken my race seal with the Loppet and had a good idea of what to expect. Maybe it was because I wouldn’t be able to face people if I’d taken the day off work and then chickened out. Or maybe I just realized how nice and helpful skijorers and skijor race organizers are, and that this really wasn’t going to be a big deal. But this time, even though I had a moment of panic as we were lining up to start when I thought I could still just leave right now and nothing bad would happen, stubbornness won in the end.

And Squash made it easy. Maybe I don’t say this enough, or maybe I say it too much, but he’s just a really fantastic dog. He maintains a calm composure no matter what happens, and even when he does get worried or overwhelmed he bounces back quickly. One moment that I won’t ever forget was after one of the race volunteers had offered to help handle him at the start (the handler holds your dog out away from you a bit to prevent tangles at the start and allow you to concentrate on skiing right away). When the guy first took his collar from me, Squash got worried and tucked his tail until I said “It’s ok, Squash, you’re ok!” when he almost immediately relaxed and forgot his worries. That’s the kind of dog he is, and his composure helps my composure. Maybe it’s corny, but we’re a team; we help each other.

And when I stop and think about what this was all like for him, he just absolutely blows me away. He rode in the car for 3 hours; stayed overnight in a strange place without the rest of our family; rode in the car the next morning for 45 minutes to Hayward; waited patiently in the car while I picked up my bib and race packet; waited patiently in the car while I walked a few blocks to the gas station to buy two new pairs of sunglasses; accompanied me to the HQ/warming house to get geared up; navigated crowds of other dogs and people uneventfully; waited patiently with me in the staging area until it was our turn to line up; heard numerous announcements over a very loud PA system; experienced a completely different race start format (interval rather than mass start) where he was in close proximity with a lot of other dogs and skiers; had a stranger/volunteer helping me handle him at the start; got stuck behind/ in a big pileup of dogs soon after the start; raced for 3K on an unfamiliar course in 2-3 inches of fresh snow while it was still snowing; ran by crowds of spectators cheering and ringing cowbells (ok he loves this stuff and hams it up shamelessly); endured countless encounters with spectators who wanted to stop, chat, and/or pet him while we made our way back to the car; posed for pictures; and finally, rode 3 hours back home – half of which was through a very heavy snowstorm that probably should have terrified me more than it did but mercifully I was too pumped up on post-race endorphins to worry about it.

This is how many effs Squash gave about staying at an unfamiliar cabin:

And this is how many effs he gave about walking around on unfamiliar property:

We drove up on Thursday night and while there was plenty of snow for the race, it wasn’t snowing. When we woke up on Friday morning, though, it was snowing pretty well.

Because we didn’t have a helper, I also don’t have any race pictures. There were dozens of professional and volunteer photographers, so eventually we will have some; I just don’t have any right now. I rigged up a much better mount for video this time, but because it was snowing pretty hard the whole time this is what happened to the entire video because of snowflakes on the lens:

Which is a tragedy. Our start was pretty choppy with some enthusiastic running back to jump on mom, and there was a huge pileup of dogs and skiers who were also having choppy starts that we got entangled in. And when he got tired, as usual, he got very silly. But in between I noticed a world of improvement between this race, the Loppet, and our recent practice runs. He got pretty excited when we were lined up for the start, and while he didn’t slam his harness like some dogs do he did do his patented “I’m excited so I’m going to jump up and down in place a few times” routine. He was much more serious and kept a tight line almost the whole time. His ON BY was hugely improved and he didn’t stop to pee on all the things (until he got tired and silly towards the end). For the most part he passed and was passed uneventfully and moved over when I told him to (until he got tired and silly towards the end when I had to reel him in). We took the turns beautifully. I heard a volunteer say, as we gracefully passed by instead of stopping to say HI HI HI LOVE YOU, “That’s a strong dog.” And while he didn’t hold this pace the whole way, several times he just absolutely hauled ass. For whatever reason (probably just because he thinks it’s fun) he really, really loves running up and down hills. We were mostly on a golf course and what hills we encountered were pretty gentle, but when we hit them he opened up into an all-out gallop that I had never seen out of him before this race. The feeling of being behind this dog running that way is just indescribable. You can get a blurry hint of it above, but it wouldn’t do him justice even if it was focused.

I don’t know what the official race results were, and I don’t care. It was a Good Day with a Good Dog, and that’s all that matters. I’m proud of my amazing boy and I’m happy to be his partner.

Post-race selfie:

Post-race kind stranger picture:

This is the last race we’re signed up for this year. I know of a couple more coming up in the next few weeks, but I think I’m going to stick to practice and meet-ups for the rest of this winter. Now that I’m aware of the races that are out there and when they’re typically held, I’ll probably sign up for more events next winter (like the Ham Bowl, the Snowflake in Duluth, and the Mush for the Cure up on the Gunflint which has a skijor event). But I think for now I’m going to let these experiences settle in and percolate, and use what we’ve learned to work on the things they showed me we need to work on.

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