Just how famous is an Iditarod champion?

Famous enough to be on a "Got Milk" poster. Famous enough to sent to states across the lower 48 for motivational and informational speaches. Famous enough to be on the Conan O'brian show. And now, famous enough to be on the Today Show. Yup, the one that used to have Katie Couric as the host. A crew of 4 members from the Today Show were here for the last three days filming Jeff King, his dogs, and his crew to display to the viewers what life is like training dogs for the Iditarod in the heart of Alaska. Most people have no clue what this is truely like; thus, the 4 minute snipit that 6 million people will be viewing sometime in the next couple weeks (keep tuned in for the date) will be some of the best coverage this sport has ever recieved.
How does this relate to the preparations for my Iditarod run? Not at all actually, but it is how I spent my last few days. We brought the crew, 30 dogs, Jeff King, and I out to our training camp on the Denali Highway for the night. The full moon, along with clear skies throughout the day and night should allow for some amazing video.
Winter has officially arrived in the great north. We have yet to recieve much snow, as there is still only about 1 inch of snow on the ground, but temperatures dipped to 30 below this past week. For those of you who have not been in this temperature, it is cold enough that when you breathe in through your mouth, your teeth get the cold sensation. It's cold, but it's part of life up here. It's only the beginning of Nov., and it is only going to get colder, so we deal. It's the same concept as someone is Austin, Texas surviving in temperatures that reach 100+ degrees. I couldn't survive in that, and they probably couldn't survive in this.
My pups and I had a great overnight trip last Thursday and Friday. We did back to back 25 mile runs, and they looked wonderfully afterwards. This tells me that they are ready for longer runs. My goal is to have them doing back to back 50 mile runs by Thanksgiving, and we are well on our way to reaching this goal. They had the last few days off to rest and cause trouble (they are good at this), so they should be raring to go for back to back 35 mile runs tommorow and the next day. It all continues to be a dream, and I know that it will only keep getting better.