Mustang Sally
9:15 p.m.
March 9, 2006

by Tyrell Seavey

Ultimate Iditarod's coverage of the 2006 Iditarod sponsored by:

I’m going to Nome!!! (Moon Walk—Handstand— Back flip) I twisted some arms here at the University. I did some fast talking to get a sleeping bag space on the floor of my parents’ room in Nome. I even had to do some good old fashion down-on-my-knees begging, but it worked out and I will be flying to Nome on Monday!!! Can you tell I am excited? I was pretty sure I was going to be able to make it before, but it wasn’t confirmed until today.

I got home from class at 9:30 p.m. tonight (Thursdays are rough), cranked up “Mustang Sally” and took close to a week’s worth of stress and anxiety out on my living room carpet. I recommend this kind of therapy highly, although I wouldn’t advise getting caught cutting a rug in a hula skirt unless your roommates or family know you really well. Yes, I do get a little carried away Iditarod week.

I looked over Cindy Gallea’s race schedule thus far and she appears to be doing a good job with her 15 dogs. She is a tough lady and I think she will continue to have a good race the rest of the way to Nome. Rick Casillo is taking it easy with his team and he is currently completing his 24 hour break in Takotna with 14 dogs. Rick worked with my family for two years and he is a quick study. He took a lot of ideas and strategy away with him when he left which he combined with his own style of racing. I would expect him to start racing more and more as he gets closer to Nome and start reeling teams in. But, Rick is a laidback guy so he may just decide to run the rest of the way to Nome just for the fun of it. He is one of us crazy guys that actually likes to run dogs just for the sake of running and he is too smart to get caught up in the whole competitive aspect until it suits him and his team.

As predicted, Jeff burned up the trail Cripple. After a move like that you definitely have to consider him one of the teams that will be setting the pace for the rest of the event. His move is nearly unprecedented in Iditarod history although Lynda Plettner ran from Takotna to Cripple non-stop a few years back. Not many people noticed her move that year because she was running in the mid 30’s. It took Lynda nearly 14 hours which was considered a decent speed until Jeff’s blistering 10 hour run this year.