wish you'd just freak out

So, this was my thinking. I figured, being that we got a foot of snow last week, the trails at the Fort would be shitty at best. I says to myself, I says, "I'm too lazy to run two teams, so I'm going to combine them. It's probably not packed at all, so the slower dogs shouldn't have a problem." But really now, what the hell do I know?

I had this whole crazy concoction of teams swimming around in my head all after noon. I was going to run the girls for two miles, then come back and grab the other two (Brew and Joppy) and do another two or three. I knew some of the trail would be broken because we got the storm on a Tuesday night, so the snow machiners would have been out there all weekend. I honestly didn't think it would all be packed. They NEVER pack the whole thing. Until this time.

First of all, I expected Tune, Keytone, Fred, Heini, Bren, Brew and Joppy. I got Rachel instead of Petunia. I opened all the boxes to let everyone out and I asked my grandpa, "where's Petunia?"
"She wasn't on the list," he said.
"Yes," I corrected, "she was."
He pulled out the list and I pointed to the name "Tune," right next to Brennan, per usual.
"I thought that said Rachel," he said.
"But it starts with a T. T-U-N-E.," I growled.
"Looked like Rachel."

UGH, so anyway, Rach has bad feet right now, (which is why I DIDN'T put her on the list for tonight), so I decided not to run her. And then there were six.

Genius, lazy me decided that the six dogs left would fit beautifully into the six dog gangline I was unraveling. I'm such a thinker.

Wanna hear my thoughts once more? "Hmmm, the trail looks a little fluffy. It'll be slow. I bet we wont go over 16mph We'll only go 4.5...Joppy and Brew can handle 16mph for that long." WHAT DO I KNOW? Seriously now.

We took off. Bren and Keytone up front, Heini and Fred in the middle and Brew and Joppy in back. Obviously the front four are WAY faster than the back two....but I was thinkin' tonight would different. Not exactly sure why.

We made it to the top of the hill and around the first right turn. (I'm really damn proud to say that Brennan took it! No neckline between her and Keytone, but she didn't miss a beat.) This was hardly a mile into the 4.5. Brew was doing fine, but Joppy was in over her head. She was driving harder than hell, but she just wasn't there. We were going around 18mph. I was hitting the drag a little, but it was still too much for Joppy. I didn't have her on a neckline, so every time she fell a step or two behind, she'd get pushed into the deep snow and I'd have to really hit the break.

At this point, just after a mile, I considered just making it an interval run. That didn't end up making much sense because no matter what, you can't beat the build of a dog. I had to swallow hard and realize I'd made a big mistake. My choices were to either ride the break and wreck the run for my pro team or leave it at their pace and ruin Joppy. I didn't want to do either. She drove hard and hung on for another mile. By this point, Brew was done also. He hates pressure and he didn't want anything to do with the last 3 miles.

I stopped, pinned the sled behind a tree and un-hoooked Joppy's tug. I put her on a neckline only. We took off again. But, because Bruce didn't have a neckline on anymore, he backed off completely. He wound up back by the sled with the harness over his head, caught around his legs. I stopped again. I tried to call him up, but he was done, done, done.

Decision time. I didn't have any more necklines, and with Bren in lead, I couldn't keep them stopped for long. I turned Brew loose completely. For a second, he spun and was going to run home backwards (no, not physically...just directionally), but I let the girls go and called him. He followed.

In just a few strides, everyone was happy again. Joppy was thrilled with her "free run" and really poured on the speed trying to keep up. She relaxed and her happy grin returned. Brew stayed behind us for a couple hundred yards, but then he shot ahead. It was a perfect pass! (Good practice for Bren at least,eh?)

I thought he'd quit listening and fly home on his own, but he didn't. He held a comfortable distance in front of Keytone and Bren and settled in. I stopped once just to see if he was paying attention, and he was. He stopped and waited patiently for the "ready." When I called them up, he took off.

By now, we were about 2 miles from home and things were looking great. I had absolutely no steering power (lack of wheel dogs haha), but I was making it. We were coming up on a gee, so I shrugged and gave it a shot. "Brew, go gee!"

I shit you not, he took that turn so hard he literally fell halfway through. It was amazing. I think he was expecting to lean into the harness. I laughed at him a little bit...in a loving way of course. Just a few hundred yards later was a left. The monster took it. Meanwhile, Bren and Keytone were on the wrong side so they were pushing each other like crazy. They were both off the trail and all I could think about was twisting shoulders in the deep snow. On the haw, Bren, dove under the line went behind Keytone, switching sides. We sped up. So did Brewer.

One last turn and everyone took it without hesitation. Our last step was down the hill and a right into the truck. Brew almost went left, but actually listened and figured it out. He charged into the campsite and into the open van. He was a little stressed, but he wandered back over to say hello when I started to water.

Brennan was happy as could be. She was calm and smiling. I gave her a giant hug and let everyone loose (except for Joppy). They all jumped into the truck and we headed home for dinner and Facebook.

This weekend is Boyne. Sometime after race reason I've got to actually try Bruce in lead....with a harness. Pulling.