It has been 6 weeks since my foot surgery and it’s been rough.
I am definitely going a little stir crazy here. Allen can tell you that much. Last week, I got permission to “hobble on my heel in the boot caste” while in the house (we live in a very small house). I thought this was GREAT! One week later, all I really want to do is run screaming down the drive and out into the field. Yup… told you… stir crazy.
Needless to say, I’ve had a bit of time to think about Iditarod 2016 — imagine that? And I’ve probably over analyzed my race, Dallas’, Mitch’s and Brent’s. As well as others. And most of all, I’ve come to the conclusion that in order to win or place in the top, a musher needs to: “Suck it up, Buttercup.”
Racing the Iditarod is challenging. There are a tremendous number of ups and downs– both physical and mental. You have to be smart, you have to be savvy and you really have to be tough. As I sit here, one foot in a boot caste, feeling sorry for myself, I start to wonder where did that tough Musher from March go? Is she still around? Did she stumble off one-legged somewhere? Is she hiding? If she is anywhere around, then she ought to remember this story:
Mile 779 on this year’s Iditarod, for me and my team, was a defining moment. It was the mile that I knew, for sure, we were going to make it. Now, I’m not saying that I thought that we wouldn’t make it. I always think that we’ll make it to Nome. But… at 779, I proved to myself that there was no doubt.
Upon leaving the Unalakleet Checkpoint, Mile 714, the race finish was still a ways off. I wasn’t in the best state of mind either. Sure, we had reached the Western Coast and the frozen Bering Sea lay in front of us. But, it was still quite a jaunt to Nome and at times, during this race, some miles seemed to take years.
So I formulated a plan that I thought would benefit my team and my self – regardless of my competitors. This plan was to run from Unalakleet, over the Blueberry hills, thru Shaktoolik and go camp out on the Sea ice about halfway to Koyuk. In my mind, camping on the Sea ice meant that we could get away from the hype and media of Checkpoints, I could continue to regroup myself and the dogs would get some quality rest in the sunshine.
This is a still shot taken from an Iditarod Insider Video.
Of course, it turned out that my “camp spot” was rather extreme. I even thought, momentarily, that I had made a mistake and that we should continue on to Koyuk. But, I had formulated the plan by using a well thought out run/rest schedule for the dogs and I knew that they would benefit. So, when I pulled over to camp I said to myself: “Suck it up, Buttercup.”
I like to term my camp spot on the Sea ice as: “breezy”. “Breezy” can mean a lot of things. You may use your imagination to define what you think “breezy” might mean. I know what “breezy” means to me.
This camp spot was no easy feat. It took quite a bit of mental resolve to sit out in 25 – 30 mph winds and “rest”. Neither was it easy to cook water, feed dogs or even booty the team.
- In order to cook water I had to set my cook pot up in the lee of my flipped over sled so that the cooker flame was not immediately extinguished by the wind. Once in a while, the wind would blow so hard that it would move my sled too close to the flame of my cooker. So, I sat down on the ice with my back leaned against the sled keeping it a wind block.
- Then I used my knife to fillet off thin sections of frozen ocean in order to melt them in my cooker. The deeper I cut into the ocean the saltier the water became.
- All the while, the lid of the cooker pot would periodically catch in a gust and blow off. I would have to jump up, run across the ice and get back to the sled before it caught fire.
- Then I fed the dogs. Usually I put down dog dishes and ladle out their meals. Well, the first two dog dishes now reside somewhere in Russia. It turned out that even after I filled the bowls with a big watery meal they would blow off. So, each dog had to eat while I held their bowl in place. Thirteen dogs means thirteen bowls (well… that’s a bit of a lie because I just told you that I lost two!)
- Before leaving the camp spot I tried to put on dog boots. Hummm. Yeah, that sucked. I always put booties on without gloves. Yes, barehanded. That way I can tighten the velcro strap easily and no velcro sticks to my fleece gloves. It’s fast, it’s efficient and often it’s cold. But, in 30 mph winds, it’s really cold. Actually the wind chill numbed my fingers so much that I couldn’t tell how tight I was making the velcro strap. Then I couldn’t tell I had fingers. Yikes!
This is a still shot taken from an Iditarod Insider Video.
This is a still shot taken from an Iditarod Insider Video.
Anyhow, you might think that Mile 779 would bum me out or get me upset about the incredible challenges. But no, it was actually the complete opposite. Once I said: “Suck it up, Buttercup.” I knew that no matter what, I could do it. I had resolve and a goal and there wasn’t anything that was going to make me falter. I had to laugh a lot because at times, like in many people’s lives, things get so incredibly challenging that there seems to be no way you are gonna get through it. But, for me at Mile 779, the harder it got, the better I did.
Now, you really think I’m stir crazy, don’t ya?
If you are an Iditarod Insider you can watch the “Aliy Zirkle Camped on Sea Ice – March 13, 2016 8:39pm” video that they took of me during this camp out. You will notice that I was completely content and somewhat gleeful with this ridiculous situation. If you are not an Iditarod Insider I took a few still shots from the video and here is a little bit of the commentary:
Insider guy: “Nice spot to camp?”
AZ: “I don’t know… I mean, it’s pretty. Look at it. Most people wouldn’t choose it. {Laughs.} But, it’s sunny, if you get behind a wind block it’s really warm. You can use your cooker.”
{Pause.}
AZ: What are the minuses? Wind. What’s another minus? Your water might be a little salty ‘cuz you’re on the ocean. Ahhhhh. What’s another minus?
{Pause.}
AZ: Wind? {Laughs.} Nah, I don’t think it’s that big of a deal.”
Stir crazy on the Sea ice? Or just sucking it up?
