The LLS

As I gather my gear together for the ITI in a couple of weeks I begin to wonder, why I'm not going all the way home this year. It's hard to believe I will take a plane back from McGrath to Anchorage and then travel back to Nome. Oh well, I suppose I need to focus that this is a training run for next year and see if my knees are up to it, blah blah blah.

The only gear I replaced was my DAS patagonia parka and some new soft shell pants since the seat wore through. I'm a big synthetic fan and do not want to worry when things get wet. My Mnt Hardware Lamina -30 synthetic bag worked so well last year and the microfibers are so light it compresses well.

In any case my platform for running this race is not only for myself but for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society & Nora Nagaruk et al... Even though I achieved the goal of $20,000 since 2005 Im still pushing on. I was going to keep a much lower profile due to last years injury but superstition supercedes and I just need to maintain the fundraising. To donate to the LLS click this site

In other events, the irondog came through last week. I totally get sucked into watching the snow machine race. It's incredibly awesome to see how fast the machines made it to McGrath in hours and on up to Nome and then to Fairbanks. We had a grand blizzard that blew in some serious snow and made for flatlight/whiteout conditions. Not as bad in the dark but daylight wreaked havoc on visibility. The Irondog website has a great GPS tracker and I was able to get a few waypoints off their trail through Hells Gate in case the Pass was impassable this year.

Well off to Shishmaref this week and -40 temps with -65 windchill, wonderful, and I think another storm is heading in too.

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