Week Ending 1/25/2014, and dogs.

I am less than inspired to write a post this week. I think it's because, after ramping up the miles 4 weeks in a row, I opted to cut back a little this week. Whenever I do that, I feel a little less like writing about my running for the week.

So, I ran a total of 22 miles this past week, which was at the lower end of my goal mileage spread. But I'm ok with that. I added a mile and a half on to my long run for the week, running 7 on Saturday prior to heading up north for an impromptu visit to Duluth.

The 31st running of the John Beargrease Sled Dog Marathon started in Two Harbors on Sunday, despite low snow levels which forced them to use a shortened (319 mile) route this year. G had never seen the start of a Dogsledding race before, and both being animal people we decided to watch it.

I had forgotten how much fun that is. This year, it started out in a gravel pit, in the woods, and felt even more true to mushing's roots than usual. All the mushing trucks were lined up with their exciting, yapping cargo of high-energy running dogs. If you've never been to one of these events before, those dogs want to run. By the time the race starts, the dogs have been well rested, and their energy cannot be contained, so they yelp and howl, but are still calm enough that young children can come up and pet them.

After a beautiful rendition of the Canadian and American national anthems (seriously, this woman sang like an angel, if that angel were accompanied by 600 or so yapping dogs) the first mushers took to the course.

If you doubt that these dogs are true runners, each dog is held back at the start by one person until it is time for them to shoot of the course. To make sure the dogs don't run too quickly too soon (dogs, too, suffer from starting too quickly), most mushers will deploy a snow anchor to slow the sled in the beginning miles until the dogs settle down into their races.

Being myself, I quickly tired of the crowd and ran down the trail a ways to get clearer shots of the teams.

The short course teams were limited to 8 dogs, the long-course teams had 12. Once out on the course, dogs may be dropped from the team at checkpoints, usually due to vet checks, but not swapped out.

Further into the woods. 

All in all, it was a uniquely north-woods experience, and I'm glad I got a chance to go.