Today's Anchorage Daily News had this photo of Lance Mackey on the front page. He appears to be the favorite to win again this year (he won in 2007 and 2008). He was a finalist for the ESPY award for Best Outdoor Athlete the past two years, is a survivor of throat cancer, married his high school sweetheart, and has four kids. How can you not love the guy? He also is the only man to win two 1,000 mile dog sled races in the same year: the Yukon Quest, and the Iditarod, both in 2007.
Freezing rain and light snow this morning, and I'm pretty sure I won't need sunscreen until I gaze once again upon the most beautiful beach in the world - AB. Still this place has a special beauty, and, if you're dressed for it, the weather doesn't detract at all from that beauty. I'll be doing my telephone room shift from 1:00 to 5:00 today, but there's a meeting of Trail Guards for the start and restart at 3:00, so when I get back to the phone room from that meeting I'll stay later to make up the time. Tomorrow, we'll get to see a team of sled dogs at the headquarters at the Millennium Hotel where they'll be used for training some volunteer dog handlers (they guide the dogs and dogsleds to the starting line). I'm told the hardest job is keeping the dogs from taking off immediately for the FINISH line.
