Somehow it’s already January and we’re midway through the season! Our first snow race is just a few weeks away. Despite my best efforts, our training slowed down a bit in late December, as it tends to do. Prior to that, we had been getting out almost every other day.
Right before our annual trip to New Jersey for the holidays, conditions on our home trail got pretty dicey. We ended up driving down a day early so we could run the dogs in the pine barrens twice during our trip. It was Sheridan’s first time and I am so glad I got to share that place with him. Our first visit was nice and cold and the race dogs banged out almost eight miles hauling me and Sheridan on the Fritz rig. Ruby and Willow got a quick half mile jog, too. Our second visit—on Christmas eve—was much warmer, so we kept things short for the race dogs. Willow and Ruby walked/jogged the 1.8 mile “Fun Run” trail. We even got to see Ruby’s sister, Kavik, and her pack.
Unfortunately, my three heaviest dogs ended up with minor abrasions on their paw pads. If you’re not familiar with the pine barrens, the trails there are very sandy. In all my years training there, the surface was never an issue. But this season, we were running on snow a whole month earlier than usual. Their feet weren’t as tough as they normally are.
After returning home from New Jersey, we ended up resting a few days while feet recovered. We only got a few runs in before a massive lake effect storm dumped four and a half feet on us. Our home trail was hopelessly buried, beyond what the snowmobile could tackle. It was also much too deep for the dogs to break trail through. We ended up spending three full days shoveling, snowblowing, plowing, and having the roof cleared off.
With our home trails inaccessible, we packed up the team and drove to Winona twice last week to get some miles in. The forest got less snow than we did and they have heavy duty grooming equipment, so the trails were perfect. Driving to train adds about two hours to the whole process, even though Winona is only about 15 minutes away, so I don’t prefer it. Still, I’m glad we got forced out there, because the dogs can really open up and run fast on those trails. Our home trail is so hilly and technical, it’s hard to really get them going for a long stretch.
We’re at the tail end of a big thaw now. The snow has compacted down to about 1.5 to 2 feet, so we were finally able to get our little snowmobile through our home trails. Now we just need temperatures to drop so that things firm up a bit, and we should be back in business!
