So we are a day away from the start of the biggest race in the mushing world, Iditarod 37 The dogs are well rested fom the last race and the dogs that had not raced in the Quest have put on another 200 Plus miles in the last week. Both"teams" are ready. I say there are two teams because that is essentaily what happens when half the dogs run a 1000 miler and the others did not. The trick to this whole operation will be to manage the team so that they work together and are on the same program. The historical speed of the dogs will not be there, I knew that would happen when we signed up for this deal ( running both of the 1000 milers) As it stands right now, Here are the 20 dogs we selected from our pool of 27 for the race, We could have vet checked all 26 (lena pulled her hamstring in the Quest and is out of the race) I came out of the Quest with all healthy dogs, all have their weight back and look great, In no particular order, ALL CAPITALS dogs ran the Quest Leaders-(L) 1- Widgi (L) 2- Hawkeye 3-HULK 4-Hula (lL) 5-Hena (L) 6-CASH (L) 7-Naboo(L) 8-BLUEBERRY (L) 9-Caper (L) 10-Goblin(L) 11- REDNECK 12-CALVIN (L) 13- Famous (L) 14-DUDE 15- EARL (L) 16- Maynard 17- DOBIE (L) 18-FRANK (L) 19- EDENEI (L) 20-Guiness (L) I am looking at 8 Quest dogs going to Iditarod, but maybe 10, There has been some very tough choices the last few days, There are some notable dogs that will be on the truck, Zion, Gumbie, Liberty, Filbert, Kazen, Katerina It looks as though the race will be slow, perhaps very suited to the way the dogs are set up this year, Lots of 70 mile runs, (let alone the 10 hr runs in the quest) BTW , I pulled # 7 in the start draw. ;-) Warren