Zach Steer shared his system for dressing and system for organizing his gear with junior mushers at a clinic on Thursday evening. Both Zach and his wife Anjanetta have run Iditarod and many other mid-distance races. He showed a short video of Anjanetta putting all the necessary gear on. It amounted to thirty-seven pieces, which he admitted was a bit of an exaggeration. He then dressed himself in the layers he prefers and explained why they worked well for him. Steer encouraged the teens to create a system that works for them personally. To avoid unpleasant surprises, race in what you train in. Zach’s system for organizing gear and tools was to place items in the same pocket or bag all of the time, sort of the place for everything and everything in its place concept. It works because you can find what you need by habit without having to try to remember or think, “now where did I put that.” Zach also encouraged the teenage mushers to eat several miles ahead of coming into a checkpoint so you can be at your best to take care of your dogs when getting into a checkpoint.

Born to Run,

Sanka