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    Update on the Iditarod race and Lance Mackey

    by Warren 3/14/2011 5:45:00 AM
    Well we are into day 8 of the 2011 edtion of the last great race, Iditarod.
    And what a great race it has been, many have a blister forming on our index finger due to constant F5 application.
    I must admit the coverage has been mediocre  at best and it has been difficult to find out if any our dogs are still in Lances team. It is hopefull to say that the 5th win was emenient being Lance has been constantly suprising fans for so long it is hard to bet against him. However it appears the magic is not there this year. I believe Lance deviated from what works for him and I and not sure if he has had enough experiance running a fast team, ( in Iditarod) I figure it takes a special touch and a special team to do this. Perhaps this was a plan that was hatched late this winter.. It is fun to go fast! And I am sure he was having a blast when he was blowing the doors off of everyone early in the race!

    Last year I had 10 dogs absolutley going Ape-shit when I stopped to do my 24 in Mcgrath, and everytime I went outside to check the dogs, feed etc, They would get up and start barking to go. Everyone had that look of-Why the hell is Palfrey here???
     I ran very fast to Takotna and all the way to Mcgrath as well. planned to stop halfway to Cripple , then cripple stop for a break then a straight run to Ruby. I lost the magic in that team. along with some feed issues that I had, I decided to pull the plug in Galena and head for home. regrets? well there is only one other race I scrached from  so its not a common occurance. My head was not in the game. and consequently that why I decided to take some racing time off this year, and get some passion back, and hunger.
    I have been thinking of some strategys for the Iditarod, with a team like ours, Yes they are Swingley lines, but they are dogs born and bred here, I need my own style , and I am finaly figuring out how to train them properley. I think that the 4th place finish in Wyoming proved that. As well considering that the dogs only had less than 400 miles training before the Pedigree stage stop race( because I had no plans to race this winter), I was able to prepare them to race on  the minimum amount of training that I had. That is why we started to take 3rd place the last few stages, they were in good shape by then. 

    The 3 dogs( Oyster, Brutus, and Widgi  had 700 miles of training /racing  on them when Lance got them back to Fairbanks..
    So anyway, I found this video of Lance  in Unalakleet (I think, it looks familier) enjoy.
     


    http://vimeo.com/21001098


    Warren

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