Hello all,
Sorry to not have wriiten yet about the team's finish but the experience has been of a very bittersweet nature. While we are so very proud of the 13 dogs that crossed the finish line with Warren in 19th place, we are both devastated by the loss of Maynard. It will be a long grieving process. I think we are both in shock still. It just doesn't seem possible nor make any sense. We have received the preliminary results of the necrospsy and were told by the head vet that essentially his heart stopped. Why we ask? That we still do not know. Maynards ECGs before the race showed no abnormalities, he was pre race vet checked by one of the finest vets and has been checked out at each checkpoint along the trail as well as the final checkpoint in White Mountain and none of the vets nor Warren detected any problems. There were no signs of any problems. The vets will be conducting further tests that may shed more light. We hope that some answers come out of it that may help others dogs in the future. In our present, we are dealing with the loss of a wonderful friend, an amazing athlete, a totally goofy personality that I had hoped would be entertaining me for years to come. Alas, that is not meant to be and we are consoling ourselves with the thought that his spirit will always be on the trail. We thank you all for your kind words of support in this difficult time, from friends and family to wonderful strangers who have touched our hearts, you are appreciated. Thank you.

On a more positive note, Sam and I picked up the 13 finishers at the Anchorage airport late last night and are happy to report that they are all doing well. They were super excited to see us and to jump into their beds for a much deserved rest. They spent the afternoon receiving full body massages in the sun and lounging. Warren did a great job taking care of the dogs, there is hardly a sore feet in the bunch and their spirits are high and full of joy. I was even more happy than usual to see them particularly after Maynard. That is one of the hardest parts of being dog people is that their time with us is so short and it never seems like long enough. It reminds us to celebrate the moments we do have with them and to appreciate how blessed we are to have them in our lives. And on that note, I am going out to let them all have a final stretch before bed and love on each and every one of them. Warm thoughts to all of you and your canines too. Kate

Good afternoon all,
According to the GPS tracker Warren and the team are on the move towards Nome. The official standings still have not been updated as yet. I expect the run into Nome will take 10-11 hours. From what I hear the weather is pretty nice today so hopefully this last leg of the journey will be nice for them all. I wish I could be a raven in the sky and watch their progress. But alas, I am in a cafe in Wasilla awaiting on some truck repairs - and if you are reading this Warren don't worry it is nothing major just preventative steps before the long drive home next week. It shouldn't break the bank! I had hoped it would be a quick fix but they need parts from Anchorage so I will probably be spending the day here. At least here I can check out the Insider stuff and catch up on emails. The kids chose to stay out at John's this morning so they could go sledding so happily they are still enjoying their day under the watchful eyes of big brother Sam. I don't think they would enjoy hanging out in the cafe the same way I do! They also have a bookstore attached to the cafe so when the computer battery runs out I will venture over there. While I would rather be in Nome or running the extra dogs in Willow, this will have to suffice. At least I do have a spectacular view of the mountain from the window here - ah...good for the soul. I hope to soon have a report from Warren to update you all. I am optimistic I will be able to reach him via phone this evening after his arrival. I expect he will have a good turnout for his arrival as I have been recruiting everyone I know there and they are all recruiting others. Should be fun. And a HUGE thank you to Diana and Jamie for getting the crates for me in Nome and being sure that the dog yard is set up for Warren's arrival. Please give some loving to W and the dogs for me!!

Cheers,
Kate

Well, the team has left Elim just before 8pm. Based on the frontrunners run times, I am predicting Warren will arrive in White Mountain after about a 7 hour run, putting him in at 3am Thursday. At White Mountain he will take his mandatory 8 hour layover thus he will be heading out to Nome around 11am. Typically the run to Nome is about 10 -11 hours. Let's all hope for a cool day tomorrow as the team will be running in the heat of the day. So, expecting the team into Nome late tomorrow evening. Hopefuly they will show their arrival on the Insider for all of you to see. I am sure once Warren has some rest he will fill us all in about the run. He left Elim with all 14 dogs. I will update after I talk to him. 
I spent the afternoon cleaning out the trailer and the dogs boxes as the kids sledded with our friends Tom and Tammy Thurston's daughters.
Have a great evening. Kate

Hi all,
Warren and the team have left Koyuk and are now headed to Elim. I expect the run will take from 6-71/2 hours and then he will probably only rest in Elim a few hours. The teams have a mandatory 8 hour layover in White Mountain so most teams don't stay long at Elim for that reason. The weather has obviously been a big factor in this year's race, slowing it down considerably from year's past. There is an insider clip of Warren talking about the ground blizzard he and the team ran through getting into Eagle Island - it was on the free videos from the Insider so be sure to go and check it out. Teams have been resting longer in checkpoints than they had planned due to the high winds. There have been some horrible stories of the conditions and our thoughts are going out to those mushers who have had to scratch, that is a heartbreaking after so much work has gone into the preparations for years prior tot he race. I can only presume some of Warren's longer rest times have been due to the weather and the dogs needing extra rest to recuperate. No matter how much you can try to train in all the types of conditions that the dogs may face in a race situation, weather like this year is not anything you could have trained for. Some of the older dogs on our team have been in some pretty good weather systems over the years but for our younger dogs like Hawkeye, Hena, and WIdgi they have definitely never seen this before. I am very curious to hear how they fared. Warren still has all 14 dogs in the team, so they must be doing ok.

The dogs here have been loving the warm weather and sun we are having here in WIllow, it is about -5 celcius right now. I have been running the dogs on short fun runs, just to keep them stretched out. The dogs with me now really aren't in training for anything in particular now. This is a very relaxing time of year for us to be running dogs. There is no pressure to stay on a training schedule and the runs are fun. We may still hold the Great Slave 200 race when we get back to Yellowknife but it will be a race without a purse, just for fun and training of younger dogs. Depends on the interest level when we return, the dogs, and of course the weather. With everything that our kennel did this year with the Yukon Quest and the Iditarod we just did not have it in us to organize the race this year. 

The kids have been having a blast sledding down the hills here. They have created a series of chutes to slide down. Our Harry Potter series has finally concluded with the last movie of the series last night. I have gotten the kids abit back in the school mode their teachers will be glad to know. We are working on our homework daily now and writing about their experiences here in ALaska and the two big races. We are so glad to be able to share this with them. They may not remember it all later but we both feel that their experiences here are a very valuable life lesson for each of them. They have been lucky enough also to meet one of my early mentors in dog sledding, Al Stead who is here from Minnesota with his racing Siberian huskies to race the Open North American race this weekend in Fairbanks. The kids and I headed to his kennel here in Wasilla yesterday to visit him and the dogs. Al is an amazing dog man who along with his wife Ann have spent the last 30 years continuing the purebred Siberian husky working dogs. They have done an amazing job and have some of the nicest looking dogs around. Itr has been fantastic to catch up with Al and I look forward to seeing Ann after the race. I am really glad Warren and they are going to get the chance to meet each other.

All for now. Time to get the kids some lunch. Cheers, Kate

Sorry to not update yesterday after our arrival here but it ended up being a full day. The kids (2 legged and four) are all settled in now at John and Mary's. The two legged kids all helped me to set up the dog yard here in the trees - there was a lot more snow here than last year - we all went in almost to our waists packing in the spot for the dog yard. Those dogs that were here last year were excited to be back and the one new to here for just happy to be off the truck. They were even happier to go on a run today - about a 15 miler - nothing strenuous but good to get their legs stretched out. It was above zero here ( celcius) 33 degrees farenheit with the sun blazing down so we just took a short run. I also wanted to check out a few dogs that had been off since the Quest. Glad to report that they all did well and then took a nap on a fresh bed of straw in the sun. The kids all had a relax day watching movies. Jesse is fighting a cold so we are trying to stop it before it gets him and the rest of us too. Mary made us a fantastic early St. Patrick's day dinner of corned beef and cabbage tonight- my Irish belly is very happy!

I will be running the dogs every day that we are here. The trails here are kept groomed and are a joy to run on, albeit our dogs aren't quite used to this type of trail they do enjoy stretching out. I have to head back into Anchorage at some point to send the crates off to Nome for the return of the dogs post race, probably Monday or Tuesday. Luckily, I have some friends in Nome that will be picking them up at the airport and setting them up and getting the dog yard set up for Warren and the team. It is strange not to be heading up to Nome this year but I do not have anyone to care for the 13 dogs here with me and you know how I am - the dogs care comes first so we will all await Warren here. He may have even more people meeting him at the finish than every before as I have been recruiting everone I know to go and greet him in!

The team is on their way to Eagle Island as I write and I am happy to report that he still has 14 dogs. Still no word from the trail but I am not worried as I know what a good musher Warren is and I know the ability of our great dogs. Expect him to arrive at Eagle sometime in the wee hours of the morning. We do not have access to the advanced parts of the Iditarod Insider here at Johns due to his prehistoric computer - just the current standings list so if there are any good pics of Warren or videos can someone let me know so I can post it. Thanks.
All for now as the Harry Potter movie marathon is beginning in the other room. Cheers, Kate

Good Day all!
 Warren arrived in Iditarod this morning. I am as curious as the rest of you to see how long he stays there resting.  It looks like the team is running abit slower than some of the other teams so maybe he will stay abit. Or who knows maybe he has already left and the site just hasn't been updated. Hmm, just updated he has taken off at 1145am and still has 14 dogs! The race is from here on out going to be even more interesting to watch. Now that most of the frontrunners have taken their 24 hour layovers, the tables are more even. Lance is showing great speed and his lead is beginning to get larger but there are still alot of miles to run and it sounds like there isn't much of a trail from Grayling on. There is an amazing depth of field in the competitors in the top 30 teams at the moment so the chances are good for so many of them of still be very successful. Definitely a good race to watch.

The kids are having one last swim as I write and I am awaiting the arrival of Rick and Laura's handler Laura to pick up their four dogs. As soon as the switch has happened we will be be taking Tom's three dogs now on the truck with us to John and Mari's this afternoon. I am anxious to get the dogs out of the truck and set up our temporary dog lot in the trees at Mary's. The dogs will be able to be out of the truck during the day but I put them back in the trailer at night as there is a fair amount of moose traffic in the trees at night. Also we will be burying the extra meat in the snowbanks as it is above zero here right now and the meat is beginning to thaw out. The dogs on the truck right now don't seem to mind much as it means they are getting lots of tasty meat - better to feed it than let it go to waste.Here is a picture of last year's dog  set up at John and Mary's, courtesy of Karen.

Well, after a few days of waiting for Rainy Pass to  be out of the weather, the planes were able to get the dogs out today so Naboo and Hula are now back with us on the truck. Naboo was dropped for a swollen Achilles but that was on Monday and today the swelling is gone and she is full of energy and ate well today. Hula's paperwork only says "Lame" but she is not showing signs of any major injuries, a bit sore in the left wrist. I gave them both a full massage and haven't located any soreness so that is good. We will know more when we can talk to Warren.

Warren has left Takotna after his 24 hour layover. With the time differential from the starting times, he had to rest 26 hours and 2 seconds. He has already gone through Ophir and stayed only long enough to grab supplies. Many of you have emailed wondering what the plan is now that he has taken his 24 hour layover earlier than expected....that is a very good question. I have the original race schedule and will find it interesting to see how much of it stays the same, not stopping in Ophir was part of the plan. Run times for all the teams that have left Takotna after their 24s are fairly quick considering the snow conditions that have been described so maybe the trail is turning out to be better than expected. I am hoping to get a report on Warren and the team from a friend that is going to be in Iditarod.

Our truck is getting full again as I have picked up a few other dropped dogs from friend's teams, Tom Thurston, Rick Larsen and Laura Daugereau. Their handlers are further out of town and as I am here in ANchorage it just made sense. Our dogs are adapting well to the new dogs on the truck and their dogs are happy with the rest, food and loving. The kids and I will be headed out to Willow tomorrow morning to go set up the dog yard at John and Mari's. It will be nice to get the dogs out of the truck for awhile and to get them run.
More later, Kate

Well, here I am just like the rest of you following Warren's progress on the trail...checking the Iditarod website regularly - or maybe compulsively is a better description for all of us - to see if there is any change. And there still is none. I am assuming that Warren has chosen to take his 24 hour layover in Takotna as he is still there as I write tonight. His original plan was to take his 24 in Iditarod, but my guess is that he and the others that appear to be taking their 24s in Takotna are hoping that there will be a bit better of a trail by waiting for the trailbreakers and the first few teams to go ahead through. The weather is supposed to clear up in the interior with less snowfall than the last few days have been so that will help the trail as well. I wish I had more information to pass on to you all but Warren isn't the type to call home much during the race. I just have to trust that all is going well - I do think that "no news is good news" definitely applies to this race so with that in mind I am going to attempt to shut down all the race thoughts going through my head and attempt to get some sleep. More tomorrow. Kate

Here is a photo of Sam, Bette, and Peter being interviewed at the Yukon Quest finish line before Warren's arrival and here is the link to the article that came of the interviews. http://www.yukon-news.com/sports/11619/
 Also I have finally gotten most of my pics from the two races thus far downloaded and am in the process of adding pictures to some of the blogs from the last few weeks so be sure to go check them out. Enjoy! Kate

Hello all, I spoke with our friend Denni Albert - one of the Iditarod veterinarians today and she saw Warren and the team in Rainy Pass and said his spirits were good and except for the two dogs he dropped there - she believes it was Naboo and Hula but that is not confirmed as of yet as they are not back in Anchorage yet, one with a shoulder injury and not sure of the other. The weather settled in at Rainy Pass today so there are definitely no dogs coming out today but hopefully tomorrow. The kids and Bette and I passed our afternoon yesterday at the North Pole bowling alley in Wasilla and had a fun time. I have found through the first two Iditarods that it is helpful for all to be busy doing things to pass the time rather than just checking the internet constantly, especially with the kids and their levels of patience for just waiting around which is what alot of this behind the scenes stuff really is, plus all the glamorous dog chores which they are definitely tired of already! Overall they are doing great and I treated them to a night in a hotel in Anchorage tonight that has a functioning swimming pool - the one at the hotel in Wasilla was under construction which was a big bummer for the kids. They are swimming as I write this with big smiles on their faces - always good to see. For those of you who got the Iditarod insider there are two new clips of Warren, one identifies him at Finger Lake and the other one is of the three teams on the trail - they identify two of those teams as Jessie Royer and Gerri but the first musher you see on that clip is Warren and our team, pretty cool footage to see. Also, on the pictures from the trail section there are some pics of Warren and teams coming into Rainy Pass( March 9th) and a cute one of a volunteer getting ready to park Hena and Frank and the team. Go check them out. Cheers, Kate