The trail is a great place to be. We run, we sleep and we eat. We find comfort in routines. It feels good to go through the same process on a regular basis. You routines at home and at school that you really count on too.

We have routines for most everything. There’s the routine of traveling, there’s the routine of training with the 4-wheeler, there’s the routine of training with the sled, there’s the routine of camping out and there’s the routine of checkpoints. The list of routines could go on and on. You’re not out there with us on the trail so how about I describe our checkpoint routine.

When we trot into a checkpoint, the checkers greets us. Those checkers are happy and welcoming people. The first words out of their mouths are, “Welcome to Skwentna or McGrath or Elim or wherever.” Then they escort us to a parking spot and tell our musher where to find the drop bags, heet, straw and water. Musher carefully sets a snow hook out ahead of the leaders and another behind the sled. When the team is secure, musher comes around to take our booties off, unhook our tug lines and tell us what great dogs we are. About this time a veterinarian stops and asks to see the vet notebook.

Now it’s time to eat and drink. We get a bowl of water and kibble. In the meantime, musher has started up the cooker to ready the gourmet portion of our checkpoint dining. While that’s simmering, musher spreads straw out for us to sleep in, but that comes later – after we dine. Soon enough musher ladles out some great stew made with water, kibble and meat or fish. In no time our bowls are clean and it’s time for some shut-eye. About the time we’re dozing off, musher will come around and massage our feet, putting gooey stuff between our toes and on our pads.

We’ll sleep enjoying sweet dreams of our run and musher does the same thing. An hour before it’s time to leave the checkpoint, we awake to the aroma of more food. Musher will be cooking meat scraps or fish and garlic powder in lots of water. This special secret soupy soup is referred to as slurry or baited water and is a great way to encourage us to drink.

When musher collects the bowls and packs the cooker, we know what’s next – more gooey stuff for our feet, a nice massage for our shoulders, booties and then we’re off doing what we love to do – run and pull the sled.

Well there you have it – a snapshot of the six hours we routinely spend in the checkpoints or camping along the trail. Stay tuned for a later story about our six-hour running routine.

Let PRIDE be your guide – Personal Responsibility in Daily Effort.

Born to Run,

Sanka