So, of all of the things I have done while here in Anchorage, there was really only one that made me nervous. Dog DSC_0148Handling at the Restart.

A dog handler’s job at the start of a race is to help the musher move the team to the starting line. There may need to be several people there to help control the team. The teams are so eager to get on the trail that they are jumping and barking and lunging in their harnesses. The extra bodies are needed to make sure that the teams don’t pop the snowhook and head down the trail before their official time has started.

I’m not sure what it was that made me so nervous. I volunteered to do the job and went to the training. I learned what to do and practiced with a small team in the parking lot of the hotel.

But I was still not sure I was going to go through with it.

I was really nervous to mess it up and either get hurt or hurt a dog. Sometimes the teams are so excited and powerful that a handler may trip or fall while trying to jog with the team to the starting line. But it was really the second one on the list that worried me. These mushers have been working for years with their teams and I really didn’t want to be the reason that one of the dogs got hurt on the way to the line! What if I stepped on a dog’s paw or fell on a dog? I would feel just terrible.

But, in true Joe Redington fashion (this is the strategy he used in his own life) I had a little talk with myself. I may never get the chance to do this ever again in my life.  I could do this and do it well.  I just had to believe in myself.

So I went for it, and I’m so thrilled that I did. I handled for Nicholas Petit’s team, got them safely to the Starting Line, and watched him head North to Nome! And… I didn’t even fall down!  I was super proud of myself for taking on and meeting this challenge!

Can’t wait to watch this team on the trail.