Jim's January Training Journal

January 1, 1999
Dan and I traveled to Knik today.  The drivers' meeting for the Knik 200 was tonight.  I start number fourteen.  It sounds like the race should be pretty good.  The trail seems to be in good condition.  However, it is currently snowing hard in Skwentna, the half-way point of the race.

The race is very similar to the Junior Iditarod.  It leaves Knik and follows the same trail as the Junior Iditarod to the Big Susitna River.  It continues to follow the Junior race route up the Big Su and then up the Yentna River.  The Junior Iditarod stops at Yentna Station Roadhouse.  The Knik will continue thirty-six miles past the roadhouse to Skwentna, along the Skwentna River, which is a tributary of the Yentna.  From Skwentna, teams return to Knik along the same route.

I'm both nervous and excited.

January 4, 1999
The Knik was fun.  The trail was a little bit soft for the first forty-five or fifty miles, but it hardened up as the weather grew cold after sunset.  The moon was out, so I had some very nice night time runs, and I actually also got to see some northern lights as I was approaching the finish this morning.

The race was not without its challenges.  I had to spend lots of long hours outside at temperatures as cold as twenty-five below.  I had to go without sleep.  And I had to deal with not having the supplies I shipped out to Skwentna. The heavy snow we got on the first day of the race grounded the race planes.  My food drops, along with those belonging to three other mushers, couldn't be flown to the checkpoint.  I was able to get enough dog and human food from other mushers and friends in Skwentna.  As a result, I didn't have too much of a problem.  Thanks to everyone who donated!  (Esther & Naomi, the fruit cake was excellent!!) It was good practice for the Iditarod, where food bags are sometimes misplaced or stranded due to weather.

I finished at 2:36 AM this morning.  I started with twelve dogs.  Two had to be dropped at Skwentna.  They were a little bit sore, and I didn't want to risk injuring them.  The ten I finished with were happy and strong to the end, and the two that were dropped are doing fine now.  I'm very proud of how well the dogs did.  They have shown that all of the training and camping trips have really paid off.

January 5, 1999
Dan and I got back from the race late last night.  I slept in this morning and then did a forty mile training run with the dogs that didn't race in the Knik.  These are the dogs that I will take in the Copper Basin 300.  A few of them have some minor injuries, so I may leave them behind and take some of my Knik 200 dogs in this race as well.

I am reasonably organized already for the Copper Basin.  I will leave for Glennallen, Alaska, on Thursday morning.  The race starts and finishes near there, and I have to send off my food drops and attend the drivers' meeting on Friday.  The race starts Saturday.  Caleb Banse will be going up there with me.  Caleb has worked with the Seavey's for many years both in the summer tour business and in the winter racing season.  Next year, when he is eighteen, he will run Mitch's yearlings in the Iditarod.

One qualifier down, one more to go....

January 14, 1999
Whew!  The qualifiers are done!!!  What a week!

Caleb and I left last Thursday and headed up to Glennallen.  We got there that evening and finished getting my gear ready for the race.  On Friday, we shipped out all of the food and supplies that I would need at the seven checkpoints along the way.  That evening, we went to the drivers' meeting where we discussed race rules and things like that.

The race started Saturday morning.  It had been forty-five below a few days before, but luckily, things warmed up to about ten below for the start of the race, and temperatures fluctuated between about zero and twenty or so below for the entire race.  It felt warm compared to what it could have been.  In 1996, the temperatures were down around the sixty below mark for part of the race.

I learned a lot in the Copper Basin.  I learned what a long distance race is really like.  I learned about the importance of consistently good care and feeding of my dogs.  I learned how I feel when I am extremely tired.  And I got to see how all of my training has paid off.  The dogs did extremely well the entire way.  That was very rewarding!

I need to thank Caleb Banse and my mom a lot.  Caleb single-handedly drove to all of the checkpoints at all hours of the day and night and then was there for me offering moral support and suggestions.  When I would leave the checkpoints, he would clean up the straw that the dogs were resting on and then press on to the next one.  He got less sleep than I did.  He was amazing.

My mom flew up late Monday night and drove all night to get from Anchorage to Glennallen.  She saw me at the last checkpoint and was waiting there with Caleb at the finish line.  It was really wonderful to see you, Mom.

Special thanks to the Beardsley family in Anchorage who loaned my mom a car so she could get up to Glennallen.  You are extremely generous.

And a very heartfelt thanks to the Fiedlers.  Linwood and Dalton Fiedler were both competitors in the Copper Basin.  Linwood was a great source of information about the trial before and during the race.  Dalton and I were in the checkpoints at much of the same time.  His support and encouragement helped to keep me going when I was tired.  Thanks to your wonderful family for all of your friendship and support, not just in this race, but in all of my Alaska racing adventures over the past three years.

I also need to thank everyone who has supported me, sponsored me, and given me encouragement as I have trained and competed in my qualifiers.  You are too numerous to mention here, but you are all very special to me.  The Iditarod is now a reality for me.

Thanks.

January 18, 1999
I have been taking it easy for the past few days.  I unpacked all the gear and harnesses and sleds, etc., from the Copper Basin, and now I'm on to the pile of paperwork and things that I have to do.  Tomorrow, I will run the dogs from my Knik 200 team.  I'm excited to go out and run them since they haven't been doing much running for a while now, and I would like to see how they are doing after the Knik.

Danny, Tyrell, Dallas, and Mitch's father, Dan, are all in the Lower 48 right now.  They drove down there over the past several days.  Mitch and Danny are going to be competing in the Grand Portage Passage Race, which is a new 300 mile race in northern Minnesota.  While everyone is gone, Caleb and I will take care of the dogs left up here and continue to work on training puppies (and our own teams as well, of course).

The weather has been pretty cold around here the past few days, but things are starting to cloud up and the temperature is rising a bit.  I don't mind at all.  I guess I got used to the warm day or two we had when I got back from the Copper Basin.

January 20, 1999
I have started training my dogs again.  They are really full of energy.  Our first two runs have gone very well.

I still have quite a bit of training left before the Iditarod, but the dogs and I have come a long way.  I'm starting to work a lot with some of the yearlings as lead dogs.  I'm hoping to have a handful of good yearling leaders for the Iditarod.

Caleb and I are the only ones here now.  We're keeping busy with chores and things around the kennel along with training.  We also have to finish cutting meat for the Iditarod food drops.  We have to have all of the gear, supplies, and dog and human food that we want along the trail ready by February 16th.  All of this is then shipped to Anchorage on the 17th for distribution along the trail.  The Iditarod involves a lot more than running dogs across Alaska.

January 23, 1999
Caleb and I have been busy taking care of the dogs and Tyrell's goldfish.  Neither of us are really sure how often to feed it, so we just put a few pieces of food in the bowl a few times a day and keep an eye on him.

The dogs are doing very well.  Last night, Caleb took his nine dogs and I took one of my teams, and we went out for a "midnight cruise."  The dogs like running at night, and we had a great time.  The only problem was that it was raining.  It warmed up sixty degrees in less than twenty-four hours, and the clear, cold weather gave way to wind, clouds, and wet.  Alaska weather changes almost as fast as Montana weather.

January 25, 1999
I have been working on training yearling leaders over the past several runs.  Taz has been one of my promising leaders since we were four-wheeler training.  Today he ran for several miles in single lead (by himself).  He did extremely well.

As I have mentioned before, I need several yearlings capable of running in lead by the time I start the Iditarod.  With Taz, I now have somewhere around four or five yearlings that will run in lead.

January 27, 1999
I ran my Copper Basin team today.  We went exploring up the Moose River, which runs a few miles from the kennel.  The warm weather had caused some overflow to accumulate on the river, but it was hard and icy today thanks to more cold weather.  The dogs looked great!

I worked with Emmie and Mondo in lead.  Both of them led for me in my qualifying races, and I want to continue to train them in the front of the team.

January 29, 1999
Yesterday, Caleb and I loaded up his dogs and one of my teams into the truck and drove to his house.  We were both wanting to run on some different trails, so his training trails seemed like the best choice.  Caleb's trails are much narrower and windier than the ones I have been training on.  They were a lot of fun!!!

I had Mondo and Oscar in lead at the start.  They did quite well until we were a bit passed the half-way point in the run.  There, I took Oscar out of lead and put Emmie up with Mondo.  Those two led to the end of the run.  It is the first run that I have done this year without using an adult lead dog.

January 31, 1999
Late last night, Caleb and I took all of my dogs out for a thirty mile "Blue Moon Mush."  It was cold and snowing slightly.  The trails were perfect, and the moon, even though it was a bit cloudy, gave us more light than our headlamps could compete with.

Mondo and Emmie are starting to turn into pretty good yearling leaders.  They missed a few turns, but we still have some time to work on commands.

It's been an intense month!