2021 Life Logs, Day 66: Memories of Sled Dog Racing
Date: Sunday, March 7, 2021
Weather: Sunny, Still Cold; High 34, Low, 22 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Whoa! This day went by in a flash. I did sleep an hour later than usual, took Shadow for a walk, and then started writing. Then suddenly it was afternoon and Justin and Jo called and we talked for a very long time. It was wonderful to talking to both of them and to Ziggy and Coco. One of Coco’s friends came to visit while we were talking, so she was off and running. Life is good for them in Puerto Rico right now. After we talked, I had a very late lunch, went for another walk with Shadow, and delivered a little birthday tidbit to Peter Baranowski. His birthday is tomorrow. Then I was off to the Goldstones to deliver some memorabilia and pick up some seed catalogs and the picture Jonah painted for me for my birthday.
Last night Jonah mentioned that he is involved in an Iditarod Sled Dog Race project at school and that the 2021 was beginning today. Hearing that jogged a memory of what now seems like a totally different life. While living in northern Minnesota from 1976 to 1979, Mark and I raced sled dogs on racing weekends. Winters are very long in the cold northlands and racing sled dogs certainly helped to fill the long winters. 
Last night when Jonah mentioned the Iditarod, I reminded him that his mother won a sled dog race when she was just two. I think, but am not sure, that the race was on White Bear Lake and was part of the St. Paul Winter Carnival. I do know the lake was near Minneapolis and had ‘bear’ in the name. Sure wish I had been writing my daily logs back then. Anyway, near the end of the major races that day, they called for all children who wanted to enter a short race across the lake. We entered Heather with our lead dog named Sugar and they won the race. Heather still has her trophy from that win. Sugar had been a lead sled dog for famous Alaskan racer named George Attla. We were told that Sugar had run in the Iditarod, but since the first one was in 1973. I believe Sugar probably ran as Attla’s lead dog in the 1969 preliminary and much shorter version of today’s Iditarod which he won. At least that makes sense when looking at the timeline. What I know for sure is that George Attla sold her to a teenager named Marty Grahek from Ely, Minnesota who was a serious sled dog racer in the Lower 48. And in 1977, when Sugar was no longer competitive in the serious race circuit, we took her as our lead dog and she won a race with Heather. So, this evening, I gathered some of the sled dog memorabilia from my bookshelf, plus a photo album from Minnesota, and took it to the boys to see this evening. They were watching the beginning of this year’s Iditarod on television when I arrived, so I just left the booklets and the photo album for them to look at later. In that album there were photos of Mark tucking baby Justin in the dog sled with Heather standing by, me racing a five-dog team, Mark with Sugar, Mark lining up with other racers for a 30-mile long distance race, and a victorious photo of Mark with another racer at the end of that long race on a day that was 30 below with the wind chill. Fun memories. But tomorrow I will be back on the sailing circuit, writing about our weeks in the Galapagos.
