The new year is off to a pretty wild start. Democrats took Georgia senate seats and win majority. Riots at the capitol. COVID is raging despite vaccines (slowly, inefficiently) rolling out. Every day brings about some new and often scary revelation.
Every race I had planned for the 2020-2021 season has been canceled. I'm relieved the decision has been made for us—I was already on the fence about attending anything. All of the mid-distance length races I had been aiming for required travel and overnight stays. While I'm sure I could manage, it would be easier to have someone there to help wrangle the team and stay with the retirees. I don't have anyone in my household and I didn't like the idea of asking a friend or family member to risk exposure for a race, which meant going solo. Not an impossible task, but not necessarily a welcome one, either.
I'm also relieved because race cancelations remove the pressure to train for more mileage. Truthfully, Blitz's seizure greatly derailed my confidence, which impacted our season goals. Like I said in my last post, he’s fine, but I'm slow to recover from the experience. Making sure he eats enough before we run adds complexity to when we're able to run, too. I’ve put a smaller goal in place, mainly to beat our overall season mileage from last year, which should be attainable without stress.
We haven't had major snow since the day after Christmas, and trail conditions are a mixed bag right now. Some spots have perfectly packed base with powder on top. Other spots are down to grass, ice, or rock. I can go further on my home trail system via sled, but there's less control. I tend to have time to run after work, but that means after dark, and I want to be able to see what dicey shit I'm running on. (Headlamps only do so much) And what happens if I get hurt? Hospitals aren't exactly looking good right now.
Pre-seizure, pre-pandemic, none of these things would scare me. I've never been reckless, but I certainly felt a lot braver before.
So, I'm a bundle of nerves these days. Instead of worrying about increasing individual run distance, I've been focusing more on hookup manners and command training. Sagan is learning to lead with Willow. Laika is learning how to untangle herself in point. Hopper is learning not to bounce out of control while I hook up the others. I plan to rotate the dogs to different positions in an effort to make them more flexible. All of these things I can do from my home trail, in the brief hours of daylight in between work meetings and agonizing over the state of the country.
Mushing has always been something I saw as an escape. I went into this season with ambition. The world was shut down, and although the races were always up in the air, mushing itself could not be canceled. I expected to be thriving out on the trail. Instead, I've learned that mushing is most enjoyable when balanced with all the other stuff I thought was keeping me from it. Friends, family, relationships, travel. This isn't even a pandemic discovery, really, but a Living Alone in the Woods discovery. It’s only now been amplified.
Funny how it all works out. Anyway, we’re expecting snow this weekend. We need it.
