Well I decided to head to Unalakleet (UNK) checkpoint to catch Paige as she ran though. I arrived in time to watch all the front teams roll through. As a n aspiring Iditarod musher, it wasa great experience and chance to see how the front teams operate under extreme competition. I definitely learned some tricks For next year.
The main goal was to surprise Paige and be there to cheer try tired musher up. I posted on facebook, that I thought she would stop at the old woman cabin on the run from Kaltag to UNK. Previous run times had been anywhere from 12 to 20 hours due to warmth and trail conditions. However it cooled of finally and the trail firmed up giving Paige a great trail to run on. She planned to camp and packed straw, but at the campsite, she decided to roll on down the trail for UNK! She did the run in just over 10 hours, which tried for the fastest run time between these checkpoints! she rolled in around 5 pm with a fired up team.
They looked amazing and on a much better note than the Quest team looked at this point in that race. She stayed in UNK until around 11 pm. During her short stay at UNK, she ate a big dinner and filled me in on tales from the trail.. She is ecstatic about the teams performance and so am I. Dorado had been pretty stiff on the previous two runs and not moving as smooth as the rest of the team so she decided to drop him. as she hooked up the team, JD began to whine and bark with excitement and then Bleeker and then the team erupted forward through the labyrinth of parked teams. she was on her way again!
Her runs to Shaktoolik and Koyok appeared to go well and she should be headed out of Koyok around 10 this evening. Here in Nome, we are expecting the winner by 11:30. It is a close battle between Aliy and Mitch.. They both have worked so hard, who will win?
So I made the mistake of traveling light on this trip and brought an iPad instead of a laptop and forgot my glasses. I have taken a million photos, but the internet is pretty poor at thae locations. The combo is making my blogs and uploads very difficult, so bear with me until I get on a real computer. Please check out our Facebook page for short updates and a few photos Until then.