by elsietee » Sat Mar 21, 2020 5:57 pm
Mille - Rookie of the Year:
<big hug from DeDe>
"I made a mistake yesterday and ended up on a 16 hour run, so I knew if I asked them to do something long today, they wouldn't necessarily think I was sane. ...but we're here <laughs>."
Q: "Do you feel like a rookie in this race? you have so much experience doing long treks in the sled?"
M: "Oh, HECK yeah! Do you know how many mistakes I made on this race, which were massive? Starting with oversleeping 2 hours at the 24. I def made my fair share of rookie mistakes. "
Q: So next time around, there's more room to improve?
M: "There's ALWAYS room to improve. But I don't think you can improve the experience, since it's absolutely magical. "
Q: Asking about her putting this dog team together - from Jeff King and Jessie Holmes - spoke earlier about the difficulty of putting that team together in such a short period of time - did she succeed?
M: "It wasn't me who succeeded, it was these dogs. They did absolutely magnificent. And they came together as a team in a way that I'm beyond proud about.
Q: Any particular dogs she wants to give a shout out to? <she finished with 6 dogs only>
M: <laughs wryly about squeaking in with that few dogs> "All of them. This morning, I left Puma (?Boomer?) in Safety - he was really tired - he didn't quite trust me that we were going to end this today. And Furlin <?> I had to leave him this morning (in WM?) - he's the powerhouse of the team, and that was really tough. <names two other dogs she had to drop>
...
"We wouldn't be here without the entire team.
"The most unbelievable trail moment was the second section on the way to Rohn, when you go through the Gorge. The whole run was beyond magical. It was quite windy - had to go up and over RP - I love when it's windy - and you could see the dogs just diving into it. And it was incredible moonlight - and you look behind you, and it was very calm, incredible lit-up landscape. The whole run - every time you made a turn, it was something new - little rivers, cliff walls, ... I've been telling people if I died the next day, I'd die really happy. ...not that I plan to <laughs>.
"So many magical moments. Coming into the communities where they couldn't have checkpoints for us, they set up cabins, and locals cooked food, and gave us their beds to sleep in, and the kids - their paintings - and then coming in here, with my local friends, and friends from all over the world. It's all magical".
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elsietee AT ponyhill DOT org
Repotted english person in the Sierra foothills, CA
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