If you wondered why I haven’t mentioned mushers yet, that’s because they only started today. The first mushers will pass me before Ruby (~mile 500). Stay tuned for dog team news.
One of MP’s mottos is “In der Ruhe liegt die Kraft,” which roughly translates into “strength lies in calmness.” I never felt as relaxed in a race as now. I slept longer than I would normally sleep, and, as a result, I felt good and strong every day. It may seem obvious, yet I was surprised how much of an impact one or two hours of additional sleep can have on your mood and body. Thus far I always tried to sleep as little as possible in races, but that may not be the best strategy. By sleeping a little more, I was able to move faster and further and felt better in addition. No more inefficient zombie walks and shiver trail naps. It’s the calmness that got me to Nome, not the race frenzy.
After an hour of moving and warming up, we made a fire and had a quick hot breakfast with an equally hot coffee. The rest of the day was pretty uneventful. The trail improved, there were less and less moguls, no more ice, and no more dirt sections. In true Duracell Bunny style, MP left me in the snow dust and made it to Nikolai ahead of me. She had already wolfed down her world-famous Nikolai checkpoint burger and rolled out her bed when my old and feeble persona finally arrived. The checkpoint was pretty busy with a bunch of athletes sleeping. Not even in the military have I heard as much snoring as in Nikolai. I found it hard to sleep even with earplugs. MP slept like a rock.
We got up well before daylight, had some coffee and sustenance, and headed out into the night. Checkpoint wizard George even handed us a bag of carrots “for the road.” Thanks! We had about 47mi to go to McGrath. McGrath would be MP’s finish line. For me, there would still be 700ish miles to go…
This is why you don’t mess with a moose. More on moose later.
Another one of these quick coffee breaks. Efficiency matters.
Getting my wide-open spaces fix.
Pretty skies before night is about to fall and the temperature will drop like a hammer.
Creative checkpoint sleeping.
Brewing a near-deadly coffee at the Nikolai checkpoint. Then some more.
A quick breakfast at the Nikolai checkpoint.
Only 47mi to McGrath, the finish line of the ITI 350 race. For me, there would still be 700ish miles to go…
#iti2022 #iditarodtrailinvitational #ultrarunning #nome #alaska