good day

  Hi everyone. It is our final few training runs before the worlds. The snow keeps on falling and the trail keeps getting softer. It has been hard to get the speed from the dogs lately. So many variables that you just have to do the best you can and forget the rest. 

  Ben and Rachel are having some slow averages from their teams. I am not sure exactly why. It is easy to blame the trail conditions all the time but there is always more reasons. I know Rachel has had some leader problems lately. Her main leaders just won't do it this yr.  Rachel has been busy training new leaders. Young new leaders. This can take a season to make a good pair of leaders. They do not become good leaders without going through some races successfully.  This is another problem. We have not been racing enough because there is no place to go race this yr. that matches their race distances. To be out racing is about the best training you can do to prepare for your big races.  The training has been steady but a little on the slow side is all. The dogs get sour on the same training trail all the time also. This slows them down because a lack of enthusiasm for the area that they run in.  After the last run the dogs got sore feet from the punchy surface of the trail. This is because of the big dumps of snow that we keep getting. I need a blade that pushes snow off the trail.  In any case Rachel has what she has and that is what she has to race with. 

   Ben's team is strong. He has the biggest dogs to use. I am not sure how that happened except he usually gets the biggest dogs because of his size. He needs more power to pull his heavier frame around the trail. He ended up training all eight of the biggest dogs. His dogs seem to be moving quite good and power through even the bad trail conditions. Ben's average speed is down a little also because of the training. We have to speed up these teams somehow. If the trail won't allow it then it is hard to do. You can''t go down the road with the dog teams so we have to be happy with the trail we have. It is nice and flat and smooth just soft on the top. 

   Ben and Rachel train today after school. We will be looking for some high speeds today. Hopefully the trail set up hard. We all will be getting ready by packing and getting all the little details ready for our trip. The world's are held in Anchorage Alaska. We are all looking forward to our time there. 

  Buddy and Terry Streeper are there and just finished racing the Exxon Open championship. Buddy won the open class with 18 dogs I believe. He set the new track record and averaged 20.2 m.P.H over 15 miles. WOW> This sport just gets faster and faster every year. It is almost impossible to catch up year after year. The breeding program has to be perfect and you have to breed for five years down the road.  A person needs to have allot of puppies every year to add to and improve your team. It is a fun but expensive program. 

  We are waiting on a answer from one sponsor.  We have a place to stay in Anchorage with some friends and We are getting some gas money from a friend who wants us to pick up his four wheeler. This all helps out for the trip. We are all looking forward to our races and we will keep in touch as things get closer to race days.