This will be a bit of an essay but I hope you stick with me....
WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!
I did it guys, my first ever race!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
And not only that but we worked out that it was Lolly's first ever race without Kirra in the team ( Kirra being Matty's main lead dog) So I'm just soooooooooooooooooooooooo proud of her as my little Lolly Lead Dog!!! Mr Wolfe worked his little backside off too!!! They were just fabulous.
Right..... so we are at the start line with Matty talking to Lolly and she is really confused that there is no Kirra and that her Daddy is up front talking to her and not on the rig behind her!! Bless. Mr Wolfe is pulling in his harness ready to get going...... 5...4....3....2....1..Go go go!!!!! We fly down the start straight really slippy and muddy but no probs for team Emsie even after 79 teams have cut it up... most of the others had scooted down at least part of it but not me, then we went round the corner and BOSH we got stuck in the mud on the hill. Bummer. Well no-one saw that!!!! PHEW so off I jump and I'm running with them, their little bums wiggling in front of me with all the pulling! So I'm running slower and slower, this hill is bloody never ending!! Still we turn a corner and he mud and ruts become more and the end of this straight is Mike and Pauline, they start calling and the dogs pick up slightly. Tangles is there hiding so as not to interfere but Lolly catches his eye and is intently eye balling him!!! Hee hee she's soooo clever, but Matty stays quiet. I call the Gee turn and she turns perfectly... we had watched a few others call it too early and turn into the trees!! Hee hee not us!!! Then as I'm still running (much slower now) we see some form of savior.....some hard packed trail that isn't covered in mud!!! Yippee.... and we hit it "okay Lolly, pick it up sweetie....yeah" and we fly follow this for a bit which is fantastic....oooooh lungs a bit tight so asthma inhaler comes out, puff puff, that's better... able to stand on my foot plates for a bit and recover! Okay more soft trail, off I get again and run pushing the rig. Start singing to them now....don't think Tangles does that... can't remember what I was singing just know that I was!!!!! Maybe they ran faster then to get away from it????? Not sure, might have to ask them. Most of the rest of the trail went by in a bit of a blur. There were lots of steeps grassy hillocks we had to go up and down on, almost like being on a rollercoaster!!! Then we hit the mother of all muddy hills!!!! BOSH almost stopped dead! But we kept going!! It was so slippy I just kept slipping into my rig, at one point my left shin connected with my right footplate and I had to jump over the rig to stop myself from falling over. At this point I found it easier to push my rig above me and walk below it with the dogs in front of it. Great... massive bruise on my shin but I just keep going, can't let Matty and his team down. Then we hit a downhill, time for a bit of a rest on the footplates..... not a chance, about a foot of mud puts pay to that idea!!! So I'm pushing downhill as well now. We get to some more hard trail and go whizzing along...yippee come on Lolly, come on Wolfe, doing great guys. Then I see Graham up ahead directing us, we say thanks and he tells us it's not long now.... through Dingly Dell, would be exciting if it wasn't sooooo wet and cut up, then we hit the hard trail again and as we've lost momentum I have to use a trick Matty taught me. So I stop the team and make them wait 30secs.......5..4..3..2..1 GO guys go!!! And bless them they find that extra little bit of energy. We got up the hill and met Mike and Pauline on the Trail they were calling the dogs in and the dogs picked up their speed. Then we flew past them and Lolly heard her Daddy so we picked up even more speed and came flying over the finish. Whoopee, me the Lolly monster and Mr wolfe had completed our first race as Team Emsie. I'm soooo happy. The Sunday race was cancelled so we were placed according to Sat's times. Team Emsie came 2nd in class and was highest placed female musher!!! Only beaten by Super Mike, Dizzy and Skye. Well done Polaris, so proud of you!!
Gosh can't believe it, Matty just said get round the couse safely as he said it was bad when he did it, another 30 teams had been through before I went out... you can imagine, but I came back cleaner than Matt had!!!!
As for my tutu, no way!!! I hate pink with a passion, so anyone who knows me knows what an achievement it was to get me in pink!!!
I wear running shoes, Matty had trail shoes on, they should have had more grip than mine but it sounded like he was slipping around more than me.
And my knee..... it's here and didn't cause me any problems at all. Phew.
What do we need now?????? More dogs!! Hee hee hee!!!!
Oh and a bigger place to live.
You know you're addicted to sled dog racing when after a late finish at work (1.45am) you are still up at 6.15am to go racing, you stand in the rain with your dogs until midday when your action begins, then after a long day you get back, you stand in the rain washing the mud off your rig and lines while your boyfriend is having a shower with the harnesses, then yoiu drive to the supermarket to get all the donations changed up to notes instead of coins, you haven't eaten much and your eyes are propped open with matchsticks, you then jump in the bath which said boyfriend has run for you while at supermarket to make yourself respectable for the Iditabuddy Banquet. And then try to phone fellow US Iditabuddy late at night before crashing to do it all again the next day. Only before settling to watch the Grand Prix you have to sort out washing, empty truck, get dogs settled and sorted then bath terriers as they brought home all the mud from the trail and have spread it all over the flat!!!
I hope you enjoyed that and haven't fallen asleep.
I'm soooooo hooked!!
It was great to meet Team Tiara finally.... I'm so glad they made it but upset for them they cancelled the racing!!! BBBBBOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO, disappointed I didn't get my 2nd race, but completely understand, safety must come first.... next year!!!
Love to you all a v.v.v.v.v.v.v.v.v.v.v.tired Emsie xxxxx