Sky Runner Kennel

The last month has gone by pretty quickly! On February 24 we got a new dog at the Leadville race from Bruce Harper. He’s a registered siberian husky that goes by Willy (registered name is Code Name Chillie Willie).

The Leadville race went great! I was the only one that raced in my class (3-dog junior) so I won. But I also beat 3 four dog teams. Bruce Harper’s team was only 2 minutes, 30 seconds ahead of my overall time. Two weeks before the race Elmo got out and cut his foot on some glass, it wasn’t healed in time so I borrowed one of Bruce’s retired dogs. I also used Willy in lead with Sky, because we had planned on getting him that weekend I wanted to try him out. The team ran great and we even passed a team that went out 3-5 minutes before us.

Now onto the Alaska story! On February 29 we went to Karen Ramstead’s open house. It was great to see her dogs and meet another Iditarod racer. On March 1st we traveled the 40 miles by snowmobile to Yenta Station, the first checkpoint. We stayed in a cabin there and worked the checkpoint. On Monday morning we decided to travel upriver to the second checkpoint of Skwentna. When we arrived only two mushers were there. We stayed for about 20 minutes and then headed farther upriver where we had a tent setup. My brother and I spent the night there and left on Tuesday morning. The ride back to the truck (100 miles) wasn’t near as fun as the ride out, because it was 40 degrees and raining. When we got back to the truck/parking area we loaded up and finally got into the warm truck. It was a great trip!

Now I’m back at home and planning for next season training and racing. I can probably run and train the dogs for another month or so, but after that our season will be over until September.

Dillon

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Hello Everybody,

Sorry I haven’t been up to date on the posts. Hoping to start with more consistent posts again. As you can tell I have changed it from OneDog Blog to Sky Runner Kennel. With only two dogs, we may be a micro kennel, but it’s a step-up from one dog.

In the last month or two a lot has happened. The biggest news is that I’m going to Alaska from February 27 to March 5 to watch the start of the Iditarod. It should be awesome. My brother (lives in Anchorage, AK) takes a snowmobile out to the first checkpoint (Skewentna) to watch all of the teams go by.

On January 19 and 20 we went to a sleddog race in Laramie, WY. The WyColo race is great with long snowmobile trails heading through the Medicine Bow National Forest. I didn’t race but got to handle for two friends/mentors, Don Herr and Mike Sullivan. I also bought a Risdon 3-Stanchion for Don (solved the sled problem)! On both Saturday and Sunday I took the sled out after the race was over with a four dog team of Sky and 3 of Mikes dogs (Charlie, Bones, and Trisha). We went about 3 miles both days and had a blast. Sky held the line out great and was a pretty good leader.

So far I’ve taken the sled out twice with Sky and Elmo since the race. Elmo is now up to 99 miles and Sky is up to 280 miles. I’m hoping to get up to 500 miles by the end of the season on Sky and possibly 200 miles on Elmo (Elmo runs with us about half of the time because of his age).

Dillon

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Well, this past weekend we got a total of about 4-6″ of snow. I’ve had to wait a few days before I can train again as I don’t have a sled. I thought that by now the trails would have iced over atleast some to run with on the bike. They weren’t. I started what was supposed to be a 4 mile bikejor with Sky when I noticed a dog infront of me. I thought no big deal, Sky usually passes without even looking…when we’re going good (8+ MPH). We weren’t going fast enough for her so she decided to see what the other dogs were doing. Just a quick sniff and we were off again. I was having trouble getting going when I saw a jogger going by. Just when she was passing us, Sky decided to do a “We’re not going fast enough howl and spin”. Scared to jogger pretty bad, but nothing happened. I then decided the trails weren’t runable on bike. So I walked her and the bike back to the truck. We drove the few miles to home where we hooked up and left to tire her out some. We went about 5 miles. It was only about 30-32 degrees, but it felt a lot colder. Hope to be getting some handwarmers soon. The run went well though.

The moral of the story is, I need a sled!

Dillon

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Tonight we had a great training run. Sky ran 3.6 miles bikejoring by herself and 2 miles with Elmo included. So 5.6 total. The run went great and by the time we were done, it was already pretty dark. It was fun, and it was also my first night run. Sky is up to 37.1 miles and Elmo is up to 70.6 miles.

I have also proposed a race schedule for this season. Here it is:

January 19-20, 2008- WyColo Race near Laramie, WY (Colorado Mtn. Mushers)

Won’t be racing, but I’ll be handling and running my dogs on the trails.

February 16-17, 2008- Grand County Sleddog Classic in Granby, CO (Rocky Mtn. Sleddog Club)

3 Dog Junior Class

February 23-24, 2008- Mt. Massive Mush in Leadville, CO (Rocky Mtn. Sleddog Club)

3 Dog Junior Class

Dillon

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So far, Sky has gone on 4 training runs and has 15 miles on her. She is doing great. Her muscles are growing and so is her stamina. After our run today, Sky was only the least bit fatigued and wanted to run another 4 miles!

Normally, I’ll leave Elmo with my mom after about a mile or so (Sky’s a little too fast for him). But today Elmo kept charging hard, so he completed the whole 4 miles with us. He did very good, but has napped since we got home (about 5 hours)! Elmo now has 60 miles on him and has between 25-30 runs in.

Dillon

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This morning I decided to get Sky’s first run in. We did 2.7 miles and they (Sky and Elmo) did great! I only had to help on the hilly parts. She is a great puller! You could tell at the end of the run that Elmo was better conditioned. Sky was panting while Elmo was only a tad bit tired. Sky is going to make a great sled dog!

Dillon

PS

It’s supposed to snow tomorrow! YAY

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This Saturday we added another dog to our team. She is an all-white female from the Polaris Siberian Husky Rescue in Fort Collins, CO (polarissiberianhuskyrescue.com). Her name is Sky and she looks like she’s from racing lines, however I can’t be sure about that. Her legs are soo long! She was the first dog that we looked at and�she and Elmo hit it off right when she walked in the room. Watching her run around in the back-yard is amazing! She is so graceful and makes Elmo look like a sausage on sticks. Tomorrow morning I’ll take her out on her first run.

Dillon

PS

I’ll try to get pictures up withing the next week or so.

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This weekend was GREAT! I borrowed one of Mike Sullivans older leaders to help with passing and speed. The dogs weren’t fighting, but Elmo hated to have a neckline on so I had to hold Charlie back on both days, because Elmo was balking. The first days run was average. A lot more rocks and sand compared to our normal trails, but it was great fun! Sundays run, Elmo just didn’t want to lope after we finished the uphill part.

On Saturday night, Lachlan Clarke (Iditarod Veteran) gave a presentation on his Iditarod mis-adventures. It was awesome! We got to talk to him and ask questions. And on Sunday, before we left we got to visit his dog yard and play with his puppies! It was a great weekend!

Dillon

P.S. Race Results- http://colomtnmushers.org/07-dryland-race-results-draft.pdf

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Last night I decided to run Elmo on a 4 mile run to finish his training and finally ready him the our race this weekend. It was hot (55-60) so I stopped and watered him a lot. Our run took about 40 minutes including about 15 minutes of break time and having to slow down to pass other people. I can’t wait ’till this weekend!

Dillon

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This morning, two good things happened! Number one, I got my race entry in for the dryland race in Buena Vista, CO on November 10/11. I’ll be running in the 1/2 dog bikejor class on a 3 mile trail. I’ll be running Elmo, and one of Mike “Lowdog” Sullivan’s older leaders to help with passing.

Also, we had a great run this morning. The past few runs I’ve been working on speed training with Elmo. Today, instead of letting the line go slack while loping, he was driving hard and pulling. Training is going great! And, it was dark enough to use my new LED headlamp. The headlamp was nice to have so I can see when a rabbit jumps across the trail!

Dillon

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