The real question is: How does one describe a day that felt like a dream and possibly document all that needs to be documented? Well, I'll try...but as most of my posts are, expect it to be long-winded. (Feel free to grab the shortened version from my TikTok video @MomentsinMukluks)  Keep in mind the lens [the perspective - that's RL.7.6 for my students who are following along] that this post comes from: it comes from the perspective of having followed this race and learned SO much about it over the past decade, and finally not only being able to be at the Restart (the start from which they will head down the trail for another 1,000 miles), but being there with a team and a "Musher Handler" armband which is essentially like having a backstage pass to hang out with all your favorite bands at, say, a music festival. You can wander around wherever you want, you get the "behind the scenes" footage that few people actually get to experience, and you get to not only witness the race start, but the start from a perspective you could've only ever dreamed to get. I don't know how it all worked out, but I do know there's quite a circle of connections that got it there, and as I always say - no coincidences. 

Let's start with the connections before I get into the day. So, last year, my friends Julie and Shanon participated with their class in the Iditarod adopt-a-rookie program that was new and part of what we could do as 2022 conference attendees (I participated also, but obviously had a different musher than them.).  This is a program that serves to connect classrooms to mushers and give the rookies support as classes can make things like "good luck" cards/posters, blankets for the dogs, send their musher's favorite snacks that they can take out on the trail, etc. They chose Gerhardt Thiart as their rookie musher from a pool of who was left when we decided to get on board. Gerhardt was in full-on open communication with them prior to us heading to Alaska. As we were walking around the morning of the Ceremonial Start, we spotted a Seavey truck at the end of a street, and sure enough, Gerhardt was there getting his team ready - so we all got to meet him and his wife, Julie got some photos with him, etc. We were hooked to the Insider as we knew he was stuck out in the crazy storm last year, and were all devastated to learn he had to scratch so close to the finish. Between then and now, Julie had stayed in touch and even suggested he add his "theme" to the back of his 2023 team shirts along with his added phrase of "Unfinished Business." His theme last year was "When was the last time you did something for the first time?" Fast forward to the day Kristin and I got into Anchorage this year and I was tagged by last year's Teacher on the Trail, Jim Deprez, in a post about Gerhardt's team needing a volunteer photographer. Wouldn't you know it - Kristin has her own photography business outside of teaching. I showed it to her right away and encouraged her to respond - to which she did, and was almost immediately in place as Gerhardt's photographer for the restart. They had planned to meet up at the banquet Thursday night (Day 6) to finish up details and get the armband she would need for Sunday. When we were at the meet & greet Sunday I reminded Gerhardt of being with Julie last year and then told him that Kristin who was doing his photography this year was also my friend I was traveling with this year. He then offered me a musher handler pass as well on Sunday. Saturday at the Ceremonial Start, I ran into him and his wife, Al-Jo, while they had no one else around their truck. I chatted with them for a while and let them know I also knew Richie Camden, our musher friend from Missouri who has done several presentations at both LPE and Willowbrook, and they also know him from some mid-distance races they've done or been at together!  Here in this giant place life proves that it really is Such. A. Small. World!  

So... 

Sunday. The Restart. Where to even begin? 

Our shuttle was leaving the Lakefront at 7am, so we got up early, got all of our cold-weather gear in order (lots of layers!) and headed out. As we drove out to Willow Lake, the sun was rising behind the mountains (unfortunately the bus windows were dirty and fogged up so I didn't get any pictures), and it was so picturesque...really, the backdrop for the dream. We got to Willow Lake somewhere between 8:30 and 9, and headed into the library building that was open for a place to sit, go to the bathroom, eat, drink, and even had a few vendor tables to buy things from (which, of course, we did). Inside, Kate, one of the other finalists had her sewing kit with her so she sewed up the small tear in my parka from Nic's pumped up pup on Saturday (I had more and more down feathers coming out of it), for which I'm grateful she was able to do that for me! Keeli, the other TOTT finalist introduced all of us to Meredith Mapes, an Iditarod finisher she has a family/friend connection to. Meredith was volunteering at the restart and shared some of her Tales from the Trail and just of mushing in general with us. She was so sweet! (You can follow her and her adventures on TikTok, too, @alaskandoggirl!)

After a bit I went outside and walked down to the lake - I had no idea how big the lake or how long the makeshift Restart trail across it actually is! It was an absolutely gorgeous morning - again, full blue skies and sunshine! But, it was pretty cold, being -5 when we arrived and warming up to the high teens or low twenties by the 2:00 race start. 

I was able to grab a picture as we first walked down to the library of all the mushers' bibs ready to be handed out as they arrived. When we wandered down into the musher lot eventually, we ran into Juli Westrich (this year's Teacher on the Trail) who was busy getting all of the Trail Mail to each musher as they arrived as part of her duties. Trail Mail is another way for Iditarod to connect to the classroom while helping provide a required item for mushers to carry down the trial - mail (listed as "promotional items" in the rules). Why mail? Well, The Iditarod Trail was historically used as a mail trail - mail was delivered to the communities along the trail every few weeks by dogsled. So, to commemorate and honor that, they have the mushers carry mail down the trail. Teachers can purchase Trail Mail for $5, create a one-page anything they want with their class, send it off to Alaska, and it will be put into an envelope that's also been designed by a lucky student from somewhere in the country (creating the artwork for the envelopes each year is also a classroom contest and another way Iditarod connects education to the race). The envelope will be addressed back to your classroom and assigned to a musher (no requests). During the musher meeting, each musher signs the envelopes they'll be carrying down the trail. The envelopes are then put into a colorful folder/holder (in case they get dumped out of a sled in the snow - they can easily be spotted), and given back to the mushers at the restart. They'll travel with the envelopes down the trail and be collected at the finish line and mailed back to the classrooms from Nome! I've done this the past two years with my classes and it's super exciting when that mail returns with a signature and a Nome, Alaska postmark stamp! (I don't open the envelopes). This year, unfortunately, I got the link early and then got busy and forgot to actually get signed up for it, so no mail went down the trail for my class this year [darn it!]. 

Anyway - after chatting with Juli, we wandered into the "Badge Access Only" musher lot [Whaaaatttt?!?! I know, still cannot believe it!]! First thing we saw were the emergency gps transponders that each musher will take with them - this is the thing with the emergency button that several mushers had to press last year after being stuck in that storm along the Bering Sea coast. The next table had all of their gps devices - these are the trackers that we all follow as Iditarod Insider subscribers. I mean...I've followed these trackers for years, but never knew what they looked like! So that was cool to see with our "backstage passes." We then just kind of slowly made our way through the musher lot toward Gerhardt while taking in the fact that there we were - in the mushers lot at the start of the Iditarod - what honestly is this life?  

Some "behind the scenes" notices: 

• Most mushers keep their dogs inside their dog boxes or beds in their trailers as to keep them calm and conserve their energy. They do get them out periodically to let them stretch out or snack them. The dogs feed off of not only their musher's energy, but also each others. Keeping them in their respective spaces allows for dogs that are top notch physically and mentally, ready to race when the time comes. 

• The mushers are 110% in focus mode. They're packing their sleds, checking things twice...(sounds like a familiar Christmas song, eh?)

• There are legends wandering around everywhere - be sure to look up! (Spotted in the musher lot: Dallas Seavey; Mitch Seavey; Aaron Burmeister, Karin Hendrickson; DeeDee Jonrowe...) 

• I already knew, but I couldn't have truly known - these dog teams are LOUD when they're getting ready to be lined out and set to go! Holy moly!

• Some dogs will absolutely be jumping and lunging and barking when the time comes, but many stand still, quiet, and seemingly calm. Much like athletes on star NFL or NBA teams show their excitement and readiness in different ways and with different game faces, so do these prestigious 4-legged, furry athletes. 

• These dogs know it's their time to race, but they really have no idea they're the stars of this show. They just want to get out there and run and pull - as they were born and bred to do.  In the meantime, they'll take all the head pats, butt scratches, cuddles, treats, and love they can get - just like any other dog. 

I can't even fully describe what being up close and personal to a team that was getting ready to head out on the trail was like. I tried to stop many times and look around me and remind myself to take in every single moment - who knows if I'll ever get such an opportunity again. Even while Gerhardt was fully focused and packing his sled, he stopped a few times and let us record him or take photos telling us about various things - his vet diary (another required and very important material along the race trail), being checked off by a race judge that he had all his required gear packed in his sled, and even letting us take pictures standing on his sled. At one point he told us he was going to go sit in his truck and just kind of chill for a bit, which we fully encouraged him to do, and then a few minutes later was back out and about showing us some other things. We talked with his wife Al-Jo a lot, and she even recounted for us the worry and emotional toll that storm last year caused for her - just waiting, not knowing, following the GPS tracker and Iditarod Insider like the rest of us were. That's something that in my own world and life I can fully relate to. Al-Jo also works at Mitch Seavey's kennel, training the 1-year-old pups. So those 2-year-olds her husband is taking out for their first Iditarod experience, those were/are her babies too. She worries and wants the best for all of them. 

We also got to see a sweet moment of encouragement between Gerhardt and Bridgett Watkins - who are forever uniquely bonded from last year's experience, and who are both running as "experienced rookies" again this year, just hoping mother nature allows them to make it to that burled arch. Wouldn't you know it, before Gerhardt started getting his dogs hooked up, Mitch and Dallas made their way over, and Mitch hung out for quite a while. This experienced 3-time Grand Champion giving his words of wisdom (he has a lot of it) to those heading out on the trail with his pups - Christian Turner from Australia running Mitch's A-team, the team of now 3-year olds Gerhardt ran last year. All-in-all it felt so special and monumental to be able to witness these moments that few get to be a part of, even on Insider. I was humbled by all of it, especially the care and camaraderie between all of them. 

As it got closer to that 2:00 starting time, the dogs were being given their last snacks and harnessed up - and then they got LOUD! It was so cool to witness these dogs being hooked onto their ganglines and knowing they were close to the big moment. Even more interesting, was watching the teams head up to the start who went before us. I mean all complete with their 14-dogs - these teams were FULL OF POWER. Intense power. Iditarod teams used to be 16 dogs, but in 2019 the rules changed and only allowed for 14 dog teams. (Here is an article from that time of the rule change.) To give you perspective in a simile form - these teams are about as long as a full semi-truck and trailer - so imagine how far away the lead dogs are from their sled driver, then imagine how much power can be harnessed from the front to the back of the team. I can't share all of my videos quite yet, but I watched teams with 14-20 humans attached to the team in some capacity (riding on the sled, pulling the sled from behind, or handling the leashes attached to the gangline and pulling back) trying to slow the teams and make their way to the starting line, and even with every human pulling back with all their physical might, and a sled driver riding the brake pad across the lot, these dogs were nearly impossible to stop. Thankfully they listen pretty well to their musher and handlers, without them we all would have been face-planted across the icy parking lot. 

I truly can't put into words those few moments of walking with Gerhardt's team to the start line of the Restart of Iditarod 51, and knowing Kristin was in the chute working her heart out to get as many photos and capture as many moments as possible in the 2 minutes we had before "GO!" When we go the dogs into the chute at the line, we unclipped their leashes and backed away - moving up and behind the team and watching from essentially a bird's eye view at the top of the hill, at the starting line, as the countdown began...  

"2 minutes... 1 minute... 30 seconds... 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1-GO!"

And immediately after, you are asked to exit the chute...and walking back down to the lot to get my backpack and make our way out to the shuttle, I truly was overcome with emotion over what I had just gotten to be a part of that I couldn't quite express in those moments.  Like I said (waaaay back) at the beginning of this post - how can one describe a day that felt like a dream? I've written thousands of words so far, and I'm still not sure...