Living in the tropics

It seems that the Alaska weather Gods have a hard time making up their minds. A few weeks ago the temperature was hovering well below zero for days on end; now, the mercury is having a hard time getting lower than 25 degrees. That is a temperature difference of over 60 degrees from two weeks ago! Usually warmer weather will bring precipitation in the form of snow, but this has not been the case recently. We still only have mere inches on the ground, and it doesn’t look promising anytime in the near future.
The lack of snow and the warm temperatures, however, are not influencing our training are in fact helping more than anything. These temperatures are much easier on the dogs than -30, even though overheating can become an issue when temperatures reach freezing. Furthermore, we are still running large teams in front of the truck.
I find myself out at camp on the Denali Highway at least a couple nights a week, and often times more. Camping out with the dogs is like going to deer hunting camp in the fall with all your buds. There are no distractions and you can concentrate on what the task is at hand. Out at camp I am with my 20 best friends and can concentrate on learning more about them and what they need. We have routinely been doing runs of 40 miles recently, and they are looking fantastic.
Teams that are training to win the Iditarod will train at speeds around 10-11 mph; however, since I have a young team I am running between 8-9 mph. It’s not very fast by any means, but the dogs stay happy and it allows a lot of time to look at the scenery! This means that a 40 mile run typically will take me between 5 and 6 hours.
I have two weeks until I come home for a week for Christmas, and I will be getting in as many miles as possible between then and now. I got back yesterday from camp and will be heading out tomorrow for another couple days. As always, email me with any comments or questions. My email address is fsjjw15@uaf.edu. Stay in touch and think snow!