Final Results 4 Dog Class

Sorry about the delay in posting the results... but here they are.

Day 2 ...

I had the 4th fastest day time and moved up from 6th place to 5th place overall.  On day 1 I drew behind Jiri Trinka from Czech Republic. He has an awesome record and I was just hoping to catch a glimpse of him on the trail.  There is a long straight stretch where you can see 1 min ahead of you.  ( Thanks to Alex Downey for giving me a good run down on the trail specs) . Anyway on day 1 I did see Jiri on this strip, not that big of a deal since we did go out in 1 min intervals, but I was still excited.  When we were done, Jiri beat me by 5 or 6 seconds, placing him in 5th so he would be going out ahead of me again. That gave me a good idea of where I needed to see him on the trail on day 2.  When we made the s curve near the moose stand and popped out on the straight stretch I was stoked to see Jiri about 200 yards closer to me than he was on the 1st day!!!  I was pumped and so were my dogs.  Oscar did an amazing job and he was just hunting down Jiri.  I was hoping to see him again on the river as we came home but we weren't close enough for that.  I pulled in and Jiri said... "Ah, you got me today!" and gave me a well done pat on the back.  That was one of the best feelings I have had all week!  We moved up to 5th place and now sit behind Team Sweden with only 7 seconds to make up...and 14 to get into 3rd place!

Day 3!!!

Another awesome day!  My team was now running on day 6 in a row, yes, these guys ran in my 6, well 5, dog team on Tues, Wed and Thurs.  Oscar, Diamond, Jose' and Uno were just amazing to watch as we started the hunt on Team Sweden on day 3.  Once again we popped out on the straight stretch and could see her and she was close enough that I knew we had the 7 seconds on her.  Now if we can just get close enough to her we can chase coming home and possibly make up the 14 seconds to put us up into 3rd place.  It was very cold and windy and when we were in the flats I wished that I had put my sled bag down like some of the other mushers.  It was acting as a sail and I was battling to keep the sled on the trail.  This is a small part of the trail and soon we were on the way home...last day of the world championships,  it's all or nothing now!  As I tucked behind my sled, my fingers frozen and loosing feeling and my legs cramping, I just kept looking for sight of a team.  I knew we were close, but kept hoping that we were close enough to get that chase home.  As we descended onto the river for the home stretch run, there was no team in sight so I started pumping and talking to my dogs.  All I could think of is there's no way I am going to loose by 1 second, I'm going to give it everything so I don't have any regrets after I cross the line.  

No regrets! I had the 2nd fastest time of the day! Too bad the 1st place finisher was the team that I needed to make 14 seconds up on, so she held her lead in front of me over all and I moved up to 4th place overall.  I was so happy though, I actually had a faster time than Hege Ingebrightsen, from Germany.  She raced in the 4, 6 and 8 dog classes and medaled in all classes, she's amazing.  So to end up in 4th was tough, but I would rather focus on the fact that between day 1 and day 2 my team only went 6 seconds slower when most other teams went 20 - 30 seconds slower. And if that wasn't enough, we went about 20 seconds faster on day 3, which was actually day 6 for my dogs!!!!! I am so proud of them. 

I finally thought about "'everything" when got back to the vans in the holding area and parked my team.  As my fingers thawed out and I leaned over my sled in pain, I just thought "it's over, it's over...I can't believe it's over"  All the preparation, all the time, all the money, all the sacrifice, all the traveling, everything... "it's all over".  There's' nothing I can do about it now, "it's really over", holding back the tears, I got off the sled and gave all the dogs a big hug and kiss.  

I'm glad we came and would have loved to be bringing home a couple of medals, however I think we will be coming home with something even more important...our pride, some new friends and stories that someday I will share with my grandchildren.

And now I wish that I could just click the heals of my red tennis shoes, that yes I did race with them, and say there's no place like home and be back in a flash.  Instead we have an 8 hour drive to Boston, a 10 hour flight to Anchorage and another 7 hour drive to Fairbanks...and 3 more hours to Tok to get our kids which we are missing very much right now! 

So thank you to everyone for reading along and sending comments and making me feel like I am still close to home.  I can't wait to come back and yes I will keep the blog going and will eventually post some pictures. 

So stay tuned for pictures from the trip and for more race results. 

Up coming races ... Montana Creek, Exxon, Gold Run, North Pole, LNAC, Tanacross, Tok and Mentasta.  

Thanks again to everyone who helped us get here and for all of your support!!!!! 

We love you all and we'll see you soon.

Jennifer and Brian