Hah! I was just going to post the above - interesting, eh?
Instead, these are bits I picked up from Joe Runyan:
Jessica Royer...told me she just wasn’t sleeping well. Part of the problem may have been the discomfort from three frost bit finger tips that “just really hurt.” She goes onto tell me she cant believe it happened but she wasn’t paying attention and in a flash she nipped them this evening while feeding the dogs.
Monica Zappa ...Inside, [she] was determining the time for her second wake-up call. She’s eligible to leave after 8 hours (13:44). Zappa decided on 12:30 allowing more than an hour to prepare the team for heading on to Ruby. She’s pretty efficient with booting. One of the major accomplishments for Monica is that she’s pared down the gear she brings. In her first races, her sled bag would be almost busting at the seams and it would appear that the zippers would never close around all the gear she brought along. Her years of experience have paid off in knowing what to bring and what to leave at home.
Seth Barnes... has worked for Mitch Seavey and speaks authoratatively about the teams. “Oh yeah, it’s a better team than Dallas.” One logs comments like that in the back of the mind....
Geir is running a younger team for Dallas Seavey. In an effort to confirm the dialogue with Seth, the trainer with Mitch Seavey, I ask a pointed question. “Do you think Mitch’s team is better than Dallas?” Oh , well, big surprise, we get a contrary opinion. Geir has been running dogs for more than twenty years, “Well, I don’t know. Dallas says it’s a better team than last year.” He shrugs his shoulders with typical Norwegian understatement, “I think they’re good,” which means he thinks the team is really good.